A Second Chance

A Second Chance
Words of Faith 10-2-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Jonah 2:10-3:3
[10] And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. [3:1] Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: [2] "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." [3] Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.

The fish did not struggle to obey the Lord. There was no argument from the fish. No moral dilemma. No issues of pride. Fish are that way. In fact, most of creation is that way. The seas, winds, rain, and sun all obey God perfectly.
It is only the humans, the sons and daughters of Adam, who have this penchant for going in the direction opposite of that desired by the Creator. The rest of creation seems to understand its relationship to the Creator.
And so the fish obeyed, and vomited Jonah onto dry land and he would now have a second chance. Now just a bit of caution is due here. There is not always a second chance. Sometimes the consequence of our rebellion is that we forfeit any further opportunities at least to fulfill the call that God originally had for us. There often will be a second chance in a different calling.
Jonah got a second chance to obey in the first calling. This was an amazing moment. God said, once again, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." Thankfully Jonah had seen the light while hidden in the darkness. This time Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.
That may seem to be an obvious response but, believe it or not, some blow the second chance. The Lord brought everything full circle. They were back at square one and Jonah still had the "right" to try and find another ship to Tarshish. It is hard to believe but some will head right back to the docks looking for a different ship named Rebellion without even stopping to wash off the fish smell.
Not Jonah. Jonah had the message. As reluctant as he was to preach the truth of God to the Ninevites, he knew that obedience was the only way, or at least that the cost of rebellion was too high. He did not know what he would say when he got there but obedience does not require that we know all that will happen.
"Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." The directive of God reminds us of the words of our Lord, Jesus: "For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say" (Luke 12:12).
Where are you today? Have you surrendered to God in every area of your life? Is there something that you are holding back? You can learn now or later the lesson that the fish finds so easy. Hear, trust, and obey.

Lord, I want nothing more than Your will for my life. I desire nothing more than to follow You. I am listening. I will obey. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at https://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.