Playing hide n seek with God

Playing Hide-n-Seek with God (Jonah, chapter 1)

I have always had a special place in my heart for the person of Jonah because of his honest and wholeheartedly, horrified reaction to God telling him to go preach repentance to the Ninevites.

We have all tried at one time or another to hide from God when He calls us to do something we don't like or don't feel equipped to accomplish. What takes a while for us to understand is that we can't hide from God. God will always seek and find us. Often, while we are running or hiding, God uses that time to prepare us to be instruments in  accomplishing His goals because God's will always prevails.

Even when Jonah was at his worst in the first chapter of his story – running from God and avoiding the call to minister to people who did not know the Lord – God worked through him. God worked through Jonah’s disobedience to minister to a whole different group of unbelievers - the sailors -  than the Ninevites whom Jonah was originally tasked with  calling to repentance. Through Jonah’s disobedience, God demonstrated His power and authority to the pagan sailors on the boat Jonah was using as an escape vehicle.

How cool is it that God is so powerful that He can even use our disobedience to accomplish Hs goals?! Even though God is capable of turning our willfulness into something positive, we should not linger in disobedience. Our lives are much more joy-filled when we are in sync with God's plans for us because God's plans for us are GOOD.

Since God is faithful to us even in our disobedience, how can we not begin to whole-heartedly  put our trust in Him? 

When God asks you to do a task for Him, don't run.  Instead ask Him to help you have the courage, honor, and integrity to do what he asks even when it is hard or you don't understand because we trust that God knows what He is doing.

-Chesney Szaniszlo