Daily Devotional for Wednesday, July 22

Jonah in the Midst of Confusion

“Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them,” Jonah 1:10.
There is a saying that goes, ”You can run but you cannot hide. Conflict in your life begins when you think that you can hide your sins from God. Jonah was assigned by God to go prophesy in the city of Nineveh. Jonah attempted to run from the assignment God had given him. Jonah got on a ship thinking that he could hide from God; by doing so Jonah ignited confusion in his life and in the lives of those around him.
Jonah was displeased with God because of what God commanded him to do, where God commanded him to go and who God sent him to prophesy to. Going to Nineveh was not Jonah’s plan for his life and because that was not the plan he desired for his life, Jonah disobeyed God.
God gives you an assignment for your life and the assignment he gives sometimes is not the plan you had envisioned for your life. You may become conflicted because you think that God should give you what you desire rather than calling on you to do something that makes you uncomfortable. If you decide to run from God’s assignment for you, conflict in your life is inevitable. Your decision to disobey God will throw your life into turmoil. You know where you should be in your relationship with God, however, you feel uneasy within yourself because you are out of your place and out of fellowship with God Just like Jonah who experienced conflict within himself because of being disobedient to God’s directions. In James 1:8 the Bible states, ”A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” There can be no calm when you fight with God.

FINAL THOUGHT
Instead of putting your hands up to fight with God, put your knees down and submit to him.

Andrew McClung