In the midst of pandemic, economic uncertainty, and a presidential election, we long for a word from the Lord. In scripture we see that the People of God have lived in times of feast and famine, times of good kings and times of bad, days of hope and days of fear. They cried out for a word from the Lord, and we see that God hears their cry.
November 15 – “A Reluctant Prophet”
Jonah is commanded by God to prophecy to the people of Nineveh, and immediately runs away! He doesn’t want to listen to God, he doesn’t want to help the Ninevites, he doesn’t want to be a prophet. Perhaps we have felt that reluctance to speak a word of hope to people we’d rather leave hopeless.
Jonah 1:1-6
Jonah Tries to Run Away from God
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”
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