In Harmony with God’s Will
ICS Daily Devotions
Jonah 1:1-2, 17 (NKJV) Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it…. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
There will be friction when we choose not to submit to God’s calling, His will, and His plan for our lives. It is outright rebellion to the Lordship of Christ. One of the many lessons we can learn from the life of Jonah is, do not flee from God! There will be no peace, joy or rest in the soul when we know that we are running away from our responsibilities and the calling of God for our lives.
It is apparent that there was friction between the plan of God for Jonah and his response to the call. Jonah ran towards Tarshish when he was supposed to be heading to Nineveh! Jonah was going in the opposite direction to the west. The friction caused him to go through the storm, be thrown overboard, be swallowed by the whale, and spend three days and nights in the whale. It would have been much easier if he had submitted to the call of God and His instruction to go to Nineveh and tell the people there to turn from their wicked ways. The response of the people of Nineveh would have been between God and them—Jonah was just a messenger. However, Jonah refused to submit to God. Similarly, our character will also be moulded through the trials that comes our way when there is friction between what we want to do and the will of God for us.
The calling of God will always have eternity in perspective. We should not just live for the now, although God has no issue with us enjoying everything on earth. He is not against us being wealthy, having leisure time or enjoying all the different gourmets in the world. However, He is a jealous God who does not want work or money to be our god where we only concentrate on the short portion of eternity that represents our time on earth, and neglect investing in eternity.
God wants our will to be in perfect accord with His will for us. He has a specific calling for each of us. What matters most to Him is not our renumeration, promotion or corporate titles, but our availability where He needs us to be a Christian witness for Him.
Our will has to be aligned with God’s to have smooth sailing in our lives. Once we have aligned our will with His will, God’s presence, assurance, and deliverance are assured even if we are faced with tribulation and adversities.
Sermon Series: Smooth Sailing
