04/04/2024
THE EGO OF MAN HIDES THE PURPOSE OF GOD.
A. Every human being decides what to do before the counsel of God, Jonah 1: 1-3. Jonah made the decision not to go to Nineveh (capital of the Assyrian empire), for his resentment towards the Assyrians, and fled to Tarsis (term that designated lands far from the Mediterranean, Spain). Of course there were several options: staying in Israel, go or flee, but Jonah decided not to obey and suffered the consequences of undertaking another way.
THOSE WHO ARE AROUND YOU ARE AFFECTED
A. Jonah caused heavy losses on the ship, Jonah 1: 4-5,13. "But the LORD caused a great tempest to rise in the sea, and there was in the sea one storm so large that it was thought that the ship would break. And the sailors had fear, and every one cried his god; and cast into the sea the furnishings that were in the ship, to download it from them. But Jonah had come down into the ship, and had gone to sleep ... And those men worked to make return the ship to land; but they could not, because the sea was getting more and more angry Against them". The journey became more difficult, the sailors experienced great fear and uncertainty, they put to the sea the enseres (furniture and accessories of the boat), and the sailors spent their forces without results. They lost part of their and invested their forces in vain (it is significant to see that their intentions were good, but God did not support this, on the contrary the situation not improved)
3. ARE AFFECTED TO THOSE WHO ARE SENT.
A. We are all born by a divine design. Jonah was a prophet of God, born to fulfill that divine purpose and God was glorified in him, (see for example: 2 Kings 14:25). God sent Jonah to Nineveh, to save this people from the judgment that would come upon them for their wickedness. The church (like Jonah) can not fall asleep on one side of the ship while the world is shaken in a sea of wickedness and sin ... Today, we must see ourselves as prophets of God.
