Happy Labor Day!! Hope everyone had a great weekend. We stayed inside this weekend due to the rain we got. Can't believe that we have just over 15 more weeks to go before we will have completed this Bible 365 Challenge!! I'm very proud of myself for not throwing in the towel and being determined to read the Bible in its entirety.
Honestly, I didn't expect to make it this far in the challenge. I'm grateful for those of you who stuck it out with me too. Continue to hang in there as we get ready to cross the finish line. In Week 35, we read the books of Obadiah, Jonah, Micah and Nahum.
Of course, I'm sure that we've heard the story of Jonah and the whale before. God had commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them about themselves but Jonah got scared. So, he thought he's run to Tarshish instead. However, as this story proved, there is no running away from God. The ship that Jonah was on got caught up in a terrible storm that God caused and when his shipmates found out that it was Jonah who was causing their ship to almost go down, they threw him into the ocean and he was swallowed up by whale.
After three days and a much needed prayer, the whale deposited Jonah back on dry land. This time around he didn't chance it and try to run away from God again. He did as he was instructed. I just would have did as God had told me from the beginning. I can imagine that Jonah felt like God was sending him on a suicide mission, but as pointed out in Nahum 1:7 "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble;.." God never sends us into dangerous situations without protection or having our backs.
He's always with us. And even though, we don't always know His plans or reasoning, we still need to trust Him. Micah 6:8 tells us the God "has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" And part of walking humbly with God is not running away from the responsibilities He gives to us.
Week 36 Readings
9/02: Habakkuk 1-3
9/03: Zephaniah 1-3
9/04: Haggai 1-2
9/05: Zechariah 1-8
9/06: Zechariah 9-14
9/07: Malachi 1-4
9/08: Matthew 1-4
What would you have done for three days if you were stuck inside a whale like Jonah?
I reached one of my goals over a year ago when I read the bible in its entirety. It was a great feeling!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait until I'm finished! It's been a learning experience and has really made me focus on becoming a better person in general.
DeleteI would be praying and talking to God I know that. We can never run from God I wouldn't even try he will find you
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly. And you would have thought Jonah would have known that he wouldn't have been able to hide from God.
DeleteThree days stuck in the belly of a whale? I would have lost my mind. That's why God chose Jonah and not me. :)
ReplyDeleteI get to learn from his experience. That's the great thing about the Bible we get to see everything in hindsight and make a decision to be different and do better.
I hear you on that!
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