The Reluctant Follower, Day 18 The foot stomp. Read Jonah 4:9. If you’ve ever seen a young child be upset about something, you’ve seen the foot stomp. There’s that moment when the parent or some other adult wants a child to do something, but the child doesn’t want to do it. So often, they cross their arms, make a face, and inevitably stomp their foot on the ground as if to emphatically say, “Absolutely not. I won’t do it!” Something about that foot stomp is supposed to convey their complete and total frustration and anger at whatever the situation is. Here, we see Jonah’s foot stomp. God has confronted him…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 17 God’s provision. Read Jonah 4:6-8. We speak a lot about the provision of God. We know that God is a God who provides. We enjoy praying prayers and singing songs thanking God for his provision. But, are we willing to acknowledge everything that is a provision of God? As we come into these final few days in the book of Jonah, we see that everything that has happened has been a provision of God. Jonah is in a place that he’s not supposed to be, doing something he’s not supposed to be doing, and even still God provides for him. In today’s reading, God provides…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 17 Be where you are supposed to be. Read Jonah 4:5. As a child growing up, my parents were very strict about making sure that they knew were I was at all times. They didn’t want a situation where we would be at a store and I would wander off from them. They wanted to make sure that I was where I was supposed to be. Jonah has delivered his message to Nineveh. He fulfilled all that God had told him to do. But yet, Jonah didn’t head home. He stayed there. More than that, he stayed there with a negative motive because he wanted to…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 15 Not sharing. Read Jonah 4:2-3. You’ve seen the kids that get the nice toy and then absolutely refuse to share with anybody else. They have no problem showing the toy to others and bragging that they have it, but they have no interest in sharing it. Nobody else gets the opportunity to enjoy it. That’s what Jonah reminds me of in our passage today. We saw yesterday that Jonah was really angry that God chose to forgive and show mercy to the people of Ninevah. Today, Jonah prays his prayer to God explaining just exactly why he is angry. Jonah knows God. Jonah is an…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 14 Who should determine what is right and what is wrong? Read Jonah 4:1. We have rules and laws that are set in place in order to help determine what is considered right and what is considered wrong. We see laws from the Bible as well as God was seeking to help people have a standard measure of what we see as right and wrong. However, the issue becomes when we start to think that we made the list of what is right, or that we can alter or adjust what is right. Or, even when we don’t think that God has the right to determine…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 13 God sees us. Read Jonah 3:10. Now, Jonah may not have wanted the people to repent or for God to relent on the judgment and destruction. But, God saw the people, saw their heart, and saw their desire to be made right with him. God forgave them. When we go through difficult times or are experiencing the consequences of our poor choices and sinful decisions, it can be really difficult to see God. We don’t understand what God is doing, but when we come to God in repentance and seek him, God sees us. It’s not about whether or not we see God. It’s about…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 12 100% conversion rate. Read Jonah 3:5-9. There are many preachers across the world who preach a sermon on a Sunday morning, and desperately hope to see a handful of people respond in repentance to God. I know here in the US, where I am, many churches go months if not years without seeing a person come down the aisle to give their life to Christ. Jonah didn’t want to deliver this sermon. Jonah wasn’t happy about giving the message. Jonah didn’t give the people any kind of hope when he preached that message, like we saw yesterday. But even with that message, God used the…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 11 The short and hopeless message. Read Jonah 3:4-5. Most preachers get accused of preaching too long. Jonah didn’t have that issue. Now that he has finally gotten around to actually preaching the message that God wants him to give, he still really doesn’t seem like he’s that into the message. Yes, he is obedient and goes to Nineveh. Yes, he preaches to them about God and that God isn’t pleased with them. But, this may be ones of the shortest sermons in history and it certainly isn’t filled with any hope. Jonah tells the people of Nineveh, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 10 The do-over. Read Jonah 3:1-3. It’s always interesting to me that every time we sin and then come back and repent to God, God gives us an opportunity to try again. We almost always get presented with the same temptation to sin in exactly the same way as before we repented. God gives us an opportunity to prove our commitment. Are we truly going to do differently this next time? Jonah has just been in the belly of a fish. He made a commitment to the Lord while in that situation, and the very first thing that God does when Jonah is back out on…