Manna for Your Morning

The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the LORD by sailing to Tarshish. — Jonah 1:1-3 (NLT) Jonah decided to go in the opposite direction from where the LORD called him. We can run, but we can never hide from Yahweh. The LORD hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. (See Jonah 1:4) After the sailors threw Jonah overboard, the LORD had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he prayed to the LORD from inside the fish. (See Jonah 1:17 & 2:1) Yahweh heard his prayer and the LORD ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.  Jonah 3:3 says: This time Jonah o...

It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! — Ephesians 2:1-5 (MSG) No matter where we are in life, when we call upon the LORD, because of His immense mercy and incredible love, He delivers us, and draws us near to Him. He holds us close to His heart. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. (Psalm 40:2 NKJV)

As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”  — Genesis 19:17 (NIV) After being warned by an angel, Lot’s wife chose to look back, and she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). God gave us free will. We always have a choice. Like Lot's wife, we can chose disobedience and death or we can choose to give up our old ways and follow the LORD's instruction. His ways lead to a rich and satisfying life, full of His blessings and favor. Our heavenly Father, like any good parent, gives us instructions for our own good and our protection. He is not out to get us. He loves us and is on our side.