The sole purpose of this blog is to let you, the reader, know what is happening in the life of the Student Ministries here at Grace Presbyterian. I will be posting about upcoming events and activities as well as updates of how those things went. I am sure there will be other random thoughts and questions thrown in here as well. ENJOY

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Jonah Devo - Day 4

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 – Day 4

*Read Jonah 3:1-3 – Serving in Weakness

I know that today’s reading was only three verses but there is still a lot of good material that we can extract from them. Verse1 makes it very clear that there was a waiting period before God called upon Jonah again. It wasn’t as though the moment that Jonah hit dry ground after he was vomited out by the fish he wiped himself off and headed for Nineveh. It may have been that he needed some time for physical healing or simply that God allowed him that time for spiritual renewal. What we do know is that Jonah was called a second time to go to Nineveh.

If you are not careful you can miss something important in verse 2. Up to this point in the story, God has not told Jonah exactly what message to preach. God has told Jonah in 1:2 that he would “cry out against it” and now in verse 2 God says, “…call out against it the message that I tell you.” We live in a world where we have to know exactly what we are going to do, when it is going to happen, what the outcome is going to be and if we don’t have all of those answers well then there is a good chance that the plan won’t happen. Here is the good news about serving God, we don’t have to have a full understanding to be able to serve Him; we just have to be willing.
God can use us more if we serve out of weakness than out of our strength. God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In response Paul wrote, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” - 2 Corinthians 12.9:10. God desires to use us in the areas that we are weak. Why? So that He alone gets the glory.

When I was growing up (and still to a great extent) I had very poor reading comprehension. I would read things over and over and have very little idea what I was reading. That’s one of the reasons I loved cooking so much, I didn’t have to read anything to understand what tastes went together and know when to pull a steak off the grill so it was medium rare. God’s plan for my life was student ministry but my plans were to become a chef and open my own restaurant someday that I would name Joel Christopher’s. When I finally answered God’s call in my life to student ministry that meant I was going to have to rely on Him to give me the strength and ability to do His work. The good news is that God can do great things with our weakness, and I am blessed that God has chosen me to share His word to His people.
Now an area which is considered strength for me is cooking. God has used me in a number of ways to bless people from behind the stove, but in the last few years, God has made it abundantly clear that He will use me elsewhere. I have no choice but to submit to His good and perfect will regardless of my own personal desire.

This is not to say that we should immediately discard any talents that we might have; rather we should be aware of where God desires us to serve. Often that will be in our weakness, but it will always be for His glory. If we find ourselves receiving the glory, we must change our direction.

Questions:
1. What command does Jonah receive here and how does it compare with the command God gave him earlier, in Jonah 1:2?

2. Describe Jonah’s response and how it compares to the one in Jonah 1:3.

3. Do you think Jonah’s task was a desirable one? Why or why not?

4. What requirements, if any, exist for giving someone a second chance?

5. How do you react when you have messed up and are given another chance to do something?

Other things to explore...
1) Ancient Nineveh (across the Tigris River from modern-day Mosul, Iraq) has a fascinating history that can be researched online. It became the capital of Assyria around 700 BC (see 2 Kings 18:17-19:37). Some scholars speculate that the name Nineveh derives from Nina, the name of a Babylonian fish goddess.

2) A great example of someone who got a second chance is Peter. He denied knowing Jesus (John 18:15-18, 25-27). After Jesus was killed and rose from the dead, he and Peter meet again, read about it in John 21.

Take away...
Serving God is not an earned position; despite our mistakes and weaknesses, God still asks us to carry out his work.
Prayer Starter

Prayer isn't always about asking for things. Sometimes it's just telling God something. Are there any things for which you'd like a second chance? Tell God where you've messed up, and ask him for a second chance. In Christ, we are promised that second chance! Now take a few moments and quietly listen for what God is asking you to do with *your* second chance. Close your prayer by thanking God for the second chances that come through Jesus.

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