Today’s Thought “Praying for Enemy Lines” G. Ward

Jonah 1:1-3 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ^“Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”  But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Rarely will a preacher of today have to explain Jonah’s plight to a congregation; that’s exactly where the problem may begin. When any view scripture in abstract, believing it more applicable to someone vs. themselves, it absolutely corrupts. Enemy lines are drawn the more, based on impossibility thinking, along with lack of trusting God. Our Creator’s purpose still seeks to impose deeper contemplation unto a soul HE owns and the problem remains; it’s not that others won’t cooperate; we just refuse to surrender – denying blessings. Nineveh came to repentance, shaming Israel in their unbelief; whereas our modernity is with a Nineveh called false religion and our wicked categorization of mankind (translated arrogance) is allowing it to spread like gangrene; so get off the boat Jonah and compel them to come in the house!