This week we are going to wrap up our mini-series. We have been discussing Jonah and how his selfish decisions affected those around him. This week we are going to look at two more consequences of his actions.
Jonah’s disobedience caused peril to a group of innocent people. The story of Jonah is one of my favorites when it comes to talking about consequences. We often look at how Jonah was swallowed by the fish and then how he eventually went on to Nineveh, but we can also overlook the lives he disrupted through disobedience. Our decisions very rarely affect only us. Everybody on that ship was in great danger for the sin of one man. Those people were living their normal lives and were subjected to God’s wrath. I would challenge everyone to think of those that you will affect when you disobey God’s word. God is calling us to break generational curses and create better for our families and coworkers and friends and churches but when we try to do things our way, or on our time, we could be endangering them physically, mentally, or even spiritually.
The last thing is that, although his disobedience endangered the men on the ship, God still got the glory because when the men saw the power of God, they vowed to worship him. If it is one thing you can count on, it is that God will take what is bad and turn it for good. Jonah was going to preach God’s word to Nineveh whether he liked it or not. The city was going to be saved because they were smart enough to heed God’s warning through Jonah but because he did the opposite thing first, more people were saved, and God got even more glory.
Jonah was blatantly disobedient. He heard a word and did the opposite. That is a textbook example of disobedience. But even though Jonah temporarily put the people on the ship in danger, he indirectly gave them the best gift he ever could have, the gift of salvation. As we end this section about Jonah, I would ask that you stay sensitive to what God says to you, move when He says move, move where He says move, and move how He says move. You will never fully know how many lives are relying on you and how many blessings are flowing through your obedience.
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