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...

Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed. — Mark 1:16-18 (MSG) When Jesus told the early disciples to follow Him, they immediately left their nets and followed Him.  They didn't wait, wonder or wander. They were not like Gideon, who proceeded to ask God for a sign (Judges 6:36-40). They were not like Jonah, who went in the opposite direction, in an attempt to run away from God. (Jonah 1:2-3) May we have the heart to just FOLLOW JESUS, no matter where He may lead us.

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. — Matthew 6:9-10 (NASB) In Jonah 1:1-3, the LORD told Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah went and got on a ship going in the opposite direction, to Tarshish, to get away from the presence of the LORD. Many times we are like Jonah and go in the opposite direction from the way the LORD has instructed us to go. However, His kingdom comes each time a heart turns from following the ways of the world, or the will of the flesh and commits to doing His will. Instead of being like Jonah, let us follow after Jesus. Knowing what He was about to suffer, He said, “ Father, …nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. ” (Luke 22:42 NKJV) Our heavenly Father has a beautiful plan of an abundant and victorious life for each one of us. We just have to let Him show us the way.

Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three  days and three nights. — Jonah 1:17 (NIV) Even though Jonah initially ran away from the LORD and ended up being thrown into the sea, God was watching over him and provided what Jonah needed to survive. In the belly of the huge fish, Jonah remembered the LORD (Jonah 2:7) and God commanded the fish, to vomit Jonah onto dry land. Take comfort in knowing that our heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and when we need it. As Amos 5:6 (NLT) says: Come back to the LORD and live!