Daniel Bentley - February 19, 2020 - Jonah 2
When God tells you to do something or go somewhere or say something and you say no, you are running from
Him. Always a bad idea. To run from God is to run from your own happiness, as Jonah discovered. After being thrown overboard in the middle of storm, Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. He stayed in the belly of the fish for three days before he says, "In my distress I called to the LORD and He answered me." Desperation isn’t a pleasant condition. But it’s the stuff that miracles are made of. He changed his attiude and turned the cramped cavern of the fish’s stomach into a cathedral of praise. You can do things the easy way, or you can choose the hard way. Jonah obviously chose the hard way. But God didn’t give up on him. He patiently pursued him as the Hound of Heaven until he repented and surrendered and finally fulfilled his destiny.
Daniel Bentley, Jonah 3, August 26, 2020
It is impossible to outrun, outwit or outlast God. Jonah's book begins with God calling Jonah to go to the Ninevites to tell them to repent. But Jonah didn’t want to go. He believed that if he brought that message to the Ninevites they might actually repen...