“God put Jonah in the midst of a serious situation with seriously broken people, and he slept” –D. Patrick & M. Carter from For the City
This one hurt.
I’ve been Jonah way too many times. My excuse has always been the same, “my wife and I are planning to move soon, this is only temporary, no point getting too attached”. Two years later we end up at the same house still waiting for the next location.
Granted our moves (up until the big move to Kentucky) were only across town or at least within 15 minutes. And we could have certainly continued these relationships had we begun them. But not us. (I should probably say “not me” because my wife is better about this than I am). I was too busy sleeping our mission field away.
Is God sovereign? Does He—somehow—through His sovereign goodness plant us exactly where He want us? Even if we wind up where we are because of our own stupidity? Are the people in your life (neighbors, co-workers, family, etc.) there by accident?
Is God missional? Is he drawing people to Himself? Is His gospel to be proclaimed everywhere? Is part of His work to redeem brokenness? Who did Jesus hang out with—religious people or “sinners”?
Does God use His church (believers) to throw back darkness? To destroy the works of the devil? To redeem brokenness? To be the hands and feet of Jesus?
I’m just guessing that God planted Jonah on a boat with lost people for a reason. I’m just guessing that God has lost and broken people in our neighborhood for a reason.
Time to wake up.
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One of the things I’ve been teaching our folks is that as believers, God wants to work through us — whoever we are, wherever we are. Just as there is no distinction in whom God will save, there is no distinction in who God will use for His kingdom work. Are we willing vessels?
You are dead right in this. I’ve been on a good number of mission trips in my life. Russia, Latvia, Jamaica (many times), Nassau, and several states. And, by a stroke of dumb luck, I have consistently asked folks I came to know personally, there, to sign my Bible. As I look back over those signatures .. and some unrelated to mission trips .. I find that the outstanding times of ministry had nothing to do with the purpose of the mission trip itself. A girl on a bus ride in Russia; the wife of a pastor, as we were… Read more »
Very good.
You should consider Jonah’s views on God’s sending him to Nineveh. Did I not say….He knew his message, an unconditional prophecy of gloom and doom, would work to bring those people to repentance so that God would spare them, something he definitely did not want. That city had a preacher who did not want to see them saved. He was no more interested in their salvation than he was in the fate of the folks on the boat to Tarshish.
“Is God sovereign? Does He—somehow—through His sovereign goodness plant us exactly where He want us? Even if we wind up where we are because of our own stupidity?”
Do we really do anything because we have all knowledge and wisdom? Therefore, I don’t think we do anything without a healthy dose of our own stupidity. One of Joseph’s brothers am I.