Rocking the Boat

Written as part of the She Reads Truth #SheSharesTruth experiment

Read Jonah 1

Jonah was to be on a mission from God. He was meant to turn the people of Nineveh to the Lord by telling them that God was going to ROCK THEIR WORLD, if they didn’t repent. And what did God do when Jonah went the other way? He ROCKED THE WORLD of those that Jonah surrounded himself with instead. Literally! That boat ROCKED! Those men were throwing off everything they could think of to survive. The whole purpose of their trip likely - their cargo - was tossed. And what was the only solution for stopping the boat from rocking? To toss Jonah! 

I find it so amazing that these men, who worshipped all kinds of different gods amongst them and probably none of them had given any thought to believing in the God of Heaven before, learned to fear and ultimately trust in the one true God that day. At first, they were afraid to follow Jonah’s own instruction to throw him over. I’m sure they didn’t want to make THIS God any angrier. And then, when they threw him overboard and the sea became completely calm, 1:16 says, “Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.” 

Wow.

Even in his running, Jonah’s presence was used by God as a prompt for repentance. This just shows that God didn’t need something spectacular from Jonah. He just needed him to go. He just needed him to be there, and he’d do the rest. Because God can use even the weakest vessels – often especially the weakest vessels – to get his work done. In fact, it just brings God more glory when the small and weak things are used. We just have to be willing to obey and follow him. And this story just proves, that even when we aren’t willing to follow him, God can still use the vessel (sorry, I’m a dork. so, yes, the pun was intended) to ensure his will is done. 

What an amazing story those guys had from that trip! But the best part was: They came to know the God of Heaven. And truth be told, if Jonah had never run, those guys may have never come to know the Lord. They probably wouldn’t have. I mean, unless something really rocks your world, why would you switch from what you know? 

Ultimately, God was able to turn Jonah’s story into a way better one than if Jonah had just obeyed in the first place. Now, I’m not saying we should run from God because it’ll probably just be better that way. But I am saying that God can do magnificent things to bring himself glory in the most surprising of ways. And that God can and will use our journeys, even when we intentionally or unintentionally take them off course, to bring about our own and others’ redemption. 

So, thank goodness for those storms. For the rocked boats. Because God is bigger than the storms, and he can definitely deliver grace through them.

~ Signing off under my SRT identity “JessicaLoves___”*

 

*The blank is meant as an intentional reminder to myself that I am to actively love Christ and all those he puts in my path.

Steadfast

Written as part of the She Reads Truth #SheSharesTruth experiment

Read Psalm 130

Steadfast is not a word that we often use. I think the reason for this is that so few things in our lives are actually steadfast. Steadfast generally means fixed, firm, unwavering. In fact, in my dictionary app, the word “firm” is used in three of the five definitions: 1) firm in purpose, resolution, faith, attachment, as a person 2) firmly established, as an institution or state of affairs and 3) firmly fixed in place or position.

God’s love is not going anywhere! It’s there. It’s steadfast. We may come and go in loving him, or in showing that we love him by following him. But at the end of the day, if/when we come to him (or come back to him, as the case may be), he’s there. But the thing is: he never leaves us. He is always there. We don’t escape him when we pull away. We don’t escape him when we sin. We don’t escape him when we lose a bit of ourselves to the world. We just escape feeling the love that is always there for us. We put a barrier between ourselves and God when we stop living like him that makes it hard for us to feel his love. But it’s not because the love lessens or goes away. In fact, there’s nothing that can shake his firm, fixed, unwavering love for us. But how can this be?

Because of his abundant, plentiful redemption. We know that, in our relationships, they don’t work if we aren’t willing to forgive. They just don’t. People aren’t perfect; and if we can’t forgive them, we don’t really love them. But God’s redemption is more than that. It’s more than us saying “sorry” and him saying “I forgive you”. Our understanding of God’s mercy and redemption is often limited to us having guilt, apologizing and getting an “It’s OK. I still love you” feeling.

But the redemption of our lives from sin and the resulting eternal death is SO MUCH BIGGER than this type of forgiveness. Redemption comes at a cost. When we redeem a coupon, the company that lured us to the store to buy their item had to take a hit to their bottom line for us to purchase said item. Our acceptance of their offer actually hurts them in some ways. But it’s worth it to them for us to have their product. And let’s be real: What God’s offering is SO MUCH BIGGER than anything we could ever redeem from any store on earth; and the cost to him – the sacrifice of his son Jesus – is so much greater. But it was WORTH IT to him. Because he loves us! And the awesome thing is: his redemption is there for the taking. It’s always there, just like his love. We have only to come to him, confess to him and let him in. He is always there, waiting, to make good on his offer to love steadfastly and redeem with abundance.

Worthy Words

I've had such great intentions to blog. But when it comes down to it, I always find reasons to not do it. I don't have time. I don't think about it when I do have time. Or, I wonder: What do I even have to blog about?

But then I read other friends' blogs, and their subject matter is often simple. It's just a way for them to capture moments. To not let their lives pass them by without reflection. But it seems I still need a "prompt" – a place to start from. So, today, I decided. I decided I would start with whatever Bible verse(s) I'd read that day and reflect on how the Scripture relates to my life and where I am in my journey. I thought the prompt could have a dual purpose – to help me fully internalize what God is trying to say to me, and to get me writing again.

So, I went into YouVersion to pull up my reading for today from my current reading plan about God's promises. But what was I faced with upon opening the app? YouVersion's verse of the day - NOT what I was planning to blog about. It reads: "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst" (1 Timothy 1:15). And this just makes me further reflect on my good intentions gone unfulfilled.

Isn't that how most of us become the worst of sinners? Most of us don't set out to do wrong. We just wind up failing miserably at doing right. We got derailed along the way. We got focused on the wrong thing. We got busy and forgot what was important. But the amazing thing is: God is there. He's always there. Whether we are actively present with Him or not, He is actively present with us.

The verse I planned to use as my prompt for this post and my point of reflection reads: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6). What an amazingly perfect verse to counter the “verse of the day” I quoted above! Although I must fully accept that Christ came to save sinners (like me) and recognize my role as such (which I agree, I am among the worst), God also provides guidance on how to make my path straight – by submitting to Him, leaning on Him and trusting Him with all my heart. The promise the verse offers (according to my reading plan, i.e., I stole this): If I trust God and seek him, He will show me the way to go. Yet alas, as much as this guidance and promise make sense, therein lies the problem. I don't always submit. I don't always lean. I don't always trust. I don't always seek. Or at least not ENOUGH. I still slip. I still fall. (Daily.) And sometimes it's so far from the path that God would have me on. But fortunately, the redemption remains.

My solace is in the fact that, “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). You see, we can’t out-sin God’s grace. He’s got more than enough. And if we need more, he’s got more to provide. And knowing that gives us freedom to stop thinking about how good or bad we are, and to just start focusing on getting to know God more and better and discovering how loving He is that He would save us from ourselves.

But I find it so interesting that, when I Googled “greater sin results in more salvation” (which is NOT the way to find Rom 5:20, by the way), the results generated were links to the following questions that others had posed: “What is the greatest sin?” “How much sin results in the loss of salvation?” “Are there different degrees of sin?” And I’m wondering what these questions really mean. Are we looking for how much we can sin and still go to heaven? Are we looking for ways to judge others based on the severity of their sin? Are we trying to decide if God can forgive even X?

I’m learning that, while God certainly doesn’t want me to sin, my sin doesn’t scare Him away. He doesn’t just love me or others when we’re not sinning. And it’s the recognition that He conquered sin that redeems us, not our own ability to conquer sin once we’re saved. He’s not looking for perfect people (thank goodness, since there are none!). He’s looking for us to recognize His perfect love. And He just wants us to live in response to that love. Wow.

Now, if you ask me, THAT’s something worth blogging about!