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…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 9 God in charge. Read Jonah 2:10. As I read this final verse in chapter 2, we see that God has completely been in charge this entire time. The fish swallowed Jonah on God’s command. The fish spit Jonah up on land at God’s command. Jonah has just finished agreeing to be obedient and to sacrifice to God. Now God gives Jonah the opportunity to prove it. Jonah may have thought he was never going to escape, but surprise, God was still in control of the entire situation and he was in control of the fish. No matter what our circumstance, we must acknowledge that God…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 8 I will follow through. Read Jonah 2:9-9. As Jonah concludes this prayer to God from the belly of a fish, I find some of his words interesting. Jonah says that he will sacrifice to God. Then, Jonah says that what he has vowed, he will make good. It’s hard to think about what Jonah is going to set up to sacrifice while he remains in the belly of the fish. Still, Jonah’s attitude is one of returning to God. Jonah says next that what he has vowed, he will do. God’s word talks in several places about the importance of keeping your vows. You should…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 7 When do you remember God? Read Johan 2:5-7. I remember the weirdest things at the oddest times. I can be going through a test or having a conversation with someone and the all of a sudden remember that I need to buy milk. Biologically, our memories are triggered by a wide range of associations. Reading this verse, it struck me that it is important to know when we a remembering God. To be fair, Jonah probably hadn’t really forgotten God. That would have been impossible to do given how much people had been talking about God to him in the past several hours. But, the…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 6 I feel so overwhelmed!! Read Jonah 2:1-4. I think we’ve all had moments where we are just exhausted. Life keeps going on and we find ourselves busier and busier, and more and more overwhelmed. I’m sure Jonah was overwhelmed at this point. In chapter 2, he records his prayer to God, we see that he is truly overwhelmed with everything going on. He has a reason to be. He is in the stomach of a fish swimming through the ocean. That’s probably as close to actually being dead, without being dead, that a person can be. Here is where Jonah finds himself when he calls…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 5 God’s provision. Read Jonah 1:17. How often do we pray for God to provide for us? In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus tells the people that they shouldn’t worry about anything because God provides for his children. We typically have an assumption of what that looks like and what we expect God’s provision to be. However, here, God provided for Jonah. He provided a great fish to swallow him. We need to take a minute and revise what our assumptions are of God’s provision. I’m sure Jonah would have never envisioned a large fish swallowing him so that he wouldn’t drown in the sea. Still, the…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 4 They called him innocent. Read Jonah 1:13-16. I remember being younger and getting into arguments with my brother. We would be fussing and arguing about something and then mom would get upset at us. What do each of us claim? “She/He started it!” Basically, we are yelling that we are innocent and we shouldn’t be punished! Yesterday, we see that Jonah is telling the fishermen that he’s completely guilty and that they should just kill him by tossing him into the sea. Instead, these ungodly men are doing everything to save Jonah’s life. They don’t want to throw him into the sea. Jonah doesn’t just…

The Reluctant Follower, Day 1 Yep, nope. Not going to do that. Read Jonah 1:1-3. After studying Titus and Paul, who were both willing followers for Christ, I wanted to take a few days and walk back through someone who wasn’t so willing. While I absolutely want to follow Christ with all my heart, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t days when I’m more reluctant about it. Maybe I’m just not feeling it that day. Maybe, I’ve been tossed around a little more that day. Maybe the road has seemed particularly hard. Whatever the reason, there are days when I’m not “feeling” my commitment to Christ. Those are…