The First Word
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Jonah 1:1-3
Considering what Steve taught us recently, I am reminded of Jonah and how he heard a word from Yahweh, and then proceeded to do the exact opposite of what Yahweh told him to do. We know the rest of the story, but it is an important example of how Yahweh often speaks to us in a very simple way. He gives us a simple, clear word, and we go the other direction. Jonah did not like the first word he received and decided to run from it.
Eventually, he was obedient, but it took a giant fish swallowing him up in order to get his attention. As we go throughout the week, it is important that we pay attention to Yahweh’s first word. Even if it is not what we want, we need to be obedient and see it through. The outcome will be so much greater than we can imagine.