Moments in the life of a Pastor

Jonah 1:1-6

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose 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 the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load.[a] But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

Have you ever wanted to run away? I think there are times in all of our lives when we just wanted to run away, from a problem or a situation or a person. We want to escape our situation so we run in an attempt to get way. But what happens when the one you are trying to get away from is God? The bible is full of people who ran away from God: Adam and Eve in the garden after disobeying God ran away and hid from his presence. Moses ran away from his God call after he killed an Egyptian soldier. The disciples ran away from the Garden of Gethsemane and abandoned their Lord. Jonah attempt to run away from God’s calling, it’s a story of disobedience, problems and prayer. Yet most of all it’s a story about second chances and returning to God. You see there are several realities we need to remember:

1. God still speaks inviting us to join Him in His work.

V. 1a “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai,”

Jonah means dove, which signifies a ’messenger’, and we’re told that he is the Son of Ammitai which means truth, Son of truth. He is a messenger of truth. Whose truth? God’s truth. That was his job as a prophet of God, to listen to the word of God and then communicate it to the people. But instead of obeying, instead of doing what God called him to do, Jonah ran away.

2. We’re not always going to like what God tells us to do.

V. 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

This is the last place on earth that Jonah thought God would send him; why would God send Jonah to preach to his enemies? Could not God have asked Jonah to do something he wanted to do? The Bible says that he went down to Joppa. He found a ship and he bought a ticket. This was a calculated decision, Jonah made a choice; when God speaks we all have a choice, a decision to make, to run to Him or away from Him. The Bible says Jonah, “found a ship.” Sometimes we justify our actions by saying, “But I found an open door.” It is a dangerous thing to try to justify our actions simply because things seem to fall into place. The truth is, anytime we want to run away from God, we’re going to be able to find a ship heading in that direction.

3. Running away from God always leads downhill.

Verse 3 “But Jonah arose 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 the fare, and went down into it”

Any path that leads you away from God is downhill. We want to justify our direction by saying but I’m improving my life, look how happy I am! Things are going great, but it is downhill nevertheless. If you are headed for Tarshish when God has called to you go to Nineveh, then you’re sailing into a storm, life apart from God always gets rough!

4. Running from God involves a wakeup call.

Are you running from God?  What is your Ninevah? Has God called you to do something and you won’t answer his call? Has God asked you to witness to someone you don’t want to witness to? Are you running from something that you know God wants you to do? What boat are you on, and what are you doing on that boat? Jonah was on the wrong boat heading in the wrong direction and he was oblivious, he was sleeping his time away. But that’s when he got the wakeup call, a call to a new direction, a direction of obedience. God used the captain of the ship to get Jonah’s attention with the works “Arise call on your God” it was a call to get alone with God. Are you in the hold of the wrong ship, experiencing the storm of your own decisions? Listen to the captain. WAKE UP! Is it time to get alone with God?

Daniel 6:16-23

16 So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.” 17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. 19 Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. 20 When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” 21 Daniel answered, “Long live the king! 22 My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” 23 The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God.

We want to grow in our relationship with God but are we willing to become uncomfortable to do that? Sooner or later we are confronted with the reality of own limitations, humanly speaking, Daniel’s situation was without hope. Verse 16 tells us that he had just been thrown into the lions’ den and there were three limiting factors that made for a humanly impossible situation.

• The first limiting factor was the law of that day (referred to in verse 15 as the law of the Medes and Persians.) This law dictated that a king’s decree could never be revoked—not even by the king himself.
• The second limiting factor was the stone referred to in verse 17. This large stone was placed over the mouth of the den to ensure that there was no physical way for Daniel to escape
• The third limiting factor facing Daniel was the placement of the royal seals on the secured den. Verse 17 tells us that “the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel” The king and his nobles took moist clay and sealed it over the stone, pressing their signet rings into the clay so that if someone did try to save Daniel, they would first have to break the seals, which would have brought upon them the decree of their own execution

Every precaution was taken to make sure that the deliverance of Daniel was humanly impossible; no one could rescue him not even the king! Daniel’s close relationship with the king didn’t make any difference now. In verse 16b we read that the king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” That is quite a statement. Because of how Daniel lived his life the King knew about this God Daniel constantly served, your time alone with God will show.

Some of you feel like you are facing personal impossibilities and you are on the verge of giving up. For some of you it’s an employment issue, for some it’s an ongoing financial problem, for others it’s relational, you’ve almost given up on your marriage. In spite of all you have done, things just are not improving in fact they seem to be getting worse. For some it’s your kids, for some it’s a health problem or a recurring sin or addiction that you wonder if you will ever be able to conquer. No matter what you do, there just seems to be no way out. No hope for change. Whatever lion’s den you may find yourself in, now or in the future, sooner or later you must come face to face with your human limitations. To face all our human limitations seems counterproductive and defeating! The truth is that it is the most spiritually productive place you could ever be! You see God meets you in the lion’s den because he loves you. It’s only as we come to the end of ourselves that we will be able to taste the joys of truly knowing his presence and power in our life. It is only in dying to yourself that you can come alive to God. None of us like the lion’s den but it’s where we come face to face with God, where He leads us into deeper levels of dependence on Him as we wait for deliverance.

We don’t know what exactly happened in the den, all we are told is that the lion’s mouths were shut and Daniel was saved. The Lord takes great pleasure in taking the most difficult situations in life, those that seem humanly impossible to us, and using those impossibilities as a way of increasing our faith in his unlimited capability. Daniel chose time alone with God, he chose character over comfort, what will you choose?