What Should I Do Now?
How did I get here?
Scripture Reference: Jonah 1:1-5 (KJV)
1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
Many of us look at the situations that we find ourselves in now and we begin to wonder and consider, “How did we get here?”
We often like to blame our circumstances on the people that are closest to us even though we know somewhere deep down inside that they really did not have anything to do with us being where we are.
I would like to take this opportunity today to suggest to you that if you feel like you are down and out then you should know that it is highly possible that you went off course when you stopped following God and allowing his will to govern your life.
This brings us to our scripture today
We are here looking at the life of Jonah.
One thing we should all agree about Jonah is that what God did in his life is so miraculous that it is easier to write it off as just a folk tale rather than accept it as true
People would rather write off things that happen in your life as coincidental rather than admitting that God could have possibly done what we are confessing that he did in our lives
Jonah obviously had a relationship with God because God opens by asking him to go and deliver His word by crying against the city. (verse 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.)
Delivering the word of God is a really serious matter. Not just anyone can do it.
It does not take a certain level of education; neither are there any age restraints.
The restraints come from our willingness to do His will.
The more God blesses us the less we truly see a need to be a blessing however he calls us.
We can begin to think of ourselves too educated when we get an education.
We can begin to think of ourselves in a better financial bracket so we think that we should not live here or go there
To be honest I must admit that if we ever look for any reason to stop the word of God from being delivered we will ALWAYS find a good reason why we should stop the word.
Jonah did more than just not deliver the word of God he actually went an opposite way from what God had ordered him to go. Many of us find ours elves in positions that are much farther away than simply not doing what God has ordered us to do but we are going as far as to go the opposite way that he has designed for us o move.
If we take a look and notice we would see that at the same moment that he starts to deal with his troubles go hand in hand with the moment he began to disobey God. , and went down to Joppa; the bible could have clearly used many directions to describe the way to Joppa but we need to see that the bible says that in order to get to this place of disobedience Jonah had to go down.
Another way that we see God punishing Jonah for his disobedience is allowing Jonah to have to pay. so he paid the fare thereof
We need to realize that one of the most expensive things that we can do is disobey the word of God. There are not many instances in the bible that talk about someone having to pay for something like Jonah did when it came to going the opposite way of the word of God.
When I think about God and how good he has been to me I often think about how he has blessed my finances but one of the other very important things that I must realize about God is that he protected what I had.
He rebuked the devourer for my sakes. (Malachi 3: 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.) Some of us are in positions of poverty and we have never realized that we got there by leaving our land unprotected.
This brings us to our two questions for today.
The first question that we should ask ourselves when we find ourselves in a state that seems to be separated from God is; “How did I get here?”
This should be important for us to know because if we can just think back to how we got here we may be able to figure out how we can get back to where we belong.
I do an extensive amount of traveling. I love it although my travels may be minimal to other men and women of the cloth, never the less I often find myself traveling to deliver the word of God. One motto I always use when I travel is that, “I may get lost headed toward my objective but it is almost impossible for me to get lost going home.” In other words, I always pay attention to where I am going and how I am getting there. This way when I find myself in a position of not knowing exactly where I am I can always back track.
If we are truly traveling for God then no matter where we find ourselves we should never be surprised. Because no matter what happens in our lives, God is never surprised.
The next question that we should ask ourselves when we find ourselves in a state separated from God is; “What Should I do now?”
We need to look at how Jonah got to where he was. Jonah got there through simple disobedience of the word of God. There was nothing complicated or sophisticated about what Jonah did wrong. He did not kill, hurt, lie or even steal from anyone. Yet Jonah, a true man of God, found himself completely separated all because of his simple disobedience.
Many of us look at the sins of others and consider that our sins are small and forgivable. We think that since that we are not killing, stealing or destroying anything we are really not doing too much evil and God should understand and forgive us.
This is what has many of us contorted and out of shape right now. We have left the simple clear word of God and we are forced to pay for everything we do as we continue to go the wrong way.
As we look further into the scripture we see that Jonah continues to go down and went down into it even after he paid his fare he continued to go down
Some of us work harder and harder thinking that there is a way to work our way and be able to pay our own way.
If God is not important enough for you to yield to His way then you will never see the light of day. Your work will be in vain. You will work with no profit and this is not of God because we serve a profitable God.
Conclusion
I would like everyone to know that you do not have to continue to accept the struggle in your lives. You have the rights and the power to change your destiny by simply yielding the way that you think is right and doing it God’s way
Let’s Pray
Dear God, I am thankful for all that you are doing in my life. I pray that you continue to bless me and keep me. Lord I need your love in my life and without your love then my life is incomplete. God I pray that you will reveal the right way to me one more time that I may be able to do what you would have me to do and go where you would have me to go. These prayers I pray over my life for the rest of my life. Amen
Thank You
Your Friend,
Minister Juan D. Lane Sr.
