"And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights." Jonah 1:17
Everyone knows the famous story of Jonah. He experienced consequences of disobedience that were quite interesting. Imagine what it must have been like to be convicted in your heart, thrown overboard into a stormy sea and swallowed by a fish. The type of solitude he evidently had gave him a clarity of thought not previously enjoyed. You have to love God's way of getting our attention sometime.
Beloved, has God ever gotten your attention? Most often, those times are both painful and inconvenient. Despite how wrong we might be, no one likes to be punished. But there is something that each of us needs to understand. First, like Jonah, we are God's people and as God's people, we are on a mission. Like Jonah, our responsibility is to go to a people in imminent danger and warn them. When we run away from those responsibilities, there are consequences. Secondly and at least as importantly, He chastens us because He loves us, Heb 12:6-9. God corrects us in an effort to not lose us.
Sometimes the responsibilities of being a Christian can be inconvenient, disagreeable and perhaps even painful, but know that it is all for the love of God and for the good of our very souls.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
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