(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Grace for All…Grace Pursues – LISTEN HERE)
Sometimes we identify the wrong issue and so solve the wrong problem.
The surface, visible determination may come to one conclusion, but digging deeper may provide the real motive and the real issue that needs to be addressed.
For example, a child who is not doing well in school may not have any cognitive challenges, but may have relationship challenges in the home. Getting extra tutoring may help a little, but until the safety and security in the home changes, learning is always going to be a challenge.
So it is spiritually. I recall a conversation with an individual who had been attending for a while. After a few months, she said that she was no longer comfortable coming to our church. I asked for a visit and she was willing to share. As we talked she said that she wasn’t comfortable how much I talked about sin and the consequences of sin in my written devotions or in my messages. After about 40-45 minutes of talking, I asked, “Every person has a teaching of Scripture that is perhaps more challenging than others. We have touched on a resistance to God pointing out sin and having consequences for it. Why do you think this is a significant and sensitive teaching for you?”
The individual started to tear up. As she wiped away the tears she said, “I was never good enough. I got more than straight A’s, never got in trouble, and yet my dad was never satisfied. I could never please him.”
We hit the issue. She was wearied by a father who told her directly or indirectly she wasn’t good enough. She couldn’t think that her heavenly Father would do the same. It was a joy to share God’s love in Christ that makes us perfect in God’s eyes. Unfortunately she hasn’t returned, but it was a rewarding conversation none the less and I pray one that comforts her soul.
The Lord knows our hearts and loves to get to the heart of the matter. The issue for Jonah wasn’t the intimidation of Nineveh. It wasn’t the storm on the sea. It was the sinful nature lurking in his heart that didn’t want to do what God asked. Like a 2-year old throwing a tantrum at having to pick up his toys, so our sinful nature throws a tantrum at what the Lord wants us to do.
As the Lord hurled Jonah into the heart of the sea and had him swallowed by a great fish, it was to save Jonah from Jonah. If the Lord allowed Jonah to make it to Tarshish and beyond, the sinful nature in Jonah would have been emboldened to continue to defy the Lord. The Lord cared too much about Jonah to allow this to happen.
So he rescued Jonah from Jonah.
Like all of us, the grace of the Lord turns us from our selves and our sinful desires to the Lord and his ways. It’s a daily struggle…it will be today. But perhaps the words of Jonah and the psalmist will encourage and remind us…the grace of the Lord is here to rescue me from me today!
Psalm 31 (David) In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.
Jonah 2:6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.
Apply: Where and when does your sinful nature get the better of you? Perhaps memorize Psalm 31:2 and use it to seek the Lord’s rescue from the temptations of your sinful nature!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for loving me enough to rescue me from me and lead me back to you. AMEN.