Why was Jonah allowed to disobey?

Closeup of Michelangelo's The Prophet Jonah,
From Wikipedia

Jonah 1:1-4  Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  (2)  Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.  (3)  But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.  (4)  But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and Jonah said "no". I read the third verse almost wincing as you see the disobedient servant walk away from the direct and clear Word of God straight into rebellion. It is sad to see one throw up his hands and walk away from the presence of the Lord. But why would God allow Jonah to do this?

One reason is that God would be glorified. The sailors praised God in the storm later in the chapter. Jonah praised God in his prayer and Nineveh feared God when Jonah came to town, no doubt hearing of what happened. Jonah made a splash when he was tossed in the sea, the ripples of which are still felt these centuries later. The experiences in the Old Testament happened for our examples (1Co 10:6). We need to read of Jonah and be warned. God allowed Jonah to disobey so we will learn no to.

It was also for Jonah's own good in his own spiritual walk. Hugh Martin says:

"Jonah may not, indeed, be strong enough yet for thus prosecuting fearlessly the work given him to do  He may not yet set himself so simply, so fully in the word and wisdom of the Lord as to silence and crucify the wisdom of his own carnal reason -- the light of the Lord not yet being allowed calmly and alone to shine upon his heart and indicate his path. He may need to be brought through a terrible experience of his own, before his faith be pure enough, before his shield and sword for such a warfare be wielded into sufficient tone and temper for securing him the victory. "judgment may begin" first on himself, in the appalling affliction that his waywardness brings upon him. But shall the Lord's quarrel with Nineveh therefore not be pleaded? Nay; it shall be pleased more emphatically by far on account of any such delay. Jonah shall come to them at last with all the unshrinking strenuousness and firm nerve of a man, who fresh from terrific trial, visible and invisible, feareth not the face of clay. The very presence of the man among them shall say "If judgment begin upon the prophet of the Lord, what shall the end be of them that obey not his word?" And when then he shall deliver Jehovah's word of judgment, as if his own soul were standing the gates of that eternal world from which he has been miraculously redeemed, and his eye filled with its tremendous revelations, there shall be a tone of unflinching certainty and majestic terror in his voice, worthy of the redeemed herald of the King of kings, infixing amazement and conviction into the hearts of his foes."

 Perhaps Jonah was not yet ready for the work that God had for him and he was not yet ready to bear the message. God had to tune the man for the message that He wanted delivered. It has been said that God draws straight lines with crooked sticks. Jonah meant his disobedience for evil and rebellion, God meant it to strengthen Jonah for future service. God had Jonah's good in mind because Romans 8:28 was true, even before it was written.

Book Review: Zeal without Burnout

Zeal without Burnout: Seven keys to a lifelong ministry of sustainable sacrifice. 

By Christopher Ash

In Zeal without Burnout, Christopher Ash does a very good job showing how giving our all for the Lord also includes taking care of ourselves the best that we can.

Ash takes seven principles that come from Biblical truth about who we are as human beings and who God is and applies them to our service to our God. Burnout often comes when we forget we are creatures and don't take care of ourselves. Ash reminds us that we are dust (Gen. 2:7; Ps 90:3) and we are not God. Sounds pretty obvious, right? But he makes the case that this is precisely why people burnout in the service of the Lord. If we don't wisely and Scripturally take care of our bodies, minds, and souls, we can run ourselves into the ground. Ash makes the case that we need sleep, Sabbaths, friends, and food (taking care of ourselves physically) which will allow us to give, serve, and work hard for the glory of God.

The book is mercifully short. Not because it is bad or that there isn't more to say, but because this book will help one who is either on the brink or in the midst of burnout. It gives you principles to consider for further reflection.

This is not an excuse for laziness, nor for men to excuse spiritual weakness. The fear of burnout is not an excuse to not work hard. Ash shows how sacrificial hard work differs from a lifestyle of destructive neglect. By not taking care of ourselves, we loose the ability to serve others. 

The only fault I have is that this book, like most ministerial  books, deal with the full time pastor. I would love to have some contributions for the bi-vocational pastor. Some tips and suggestions for the tent-makers would be helpful. 

Thanks to Cross Focused Media for the review copy. 

The Goodness of God by Lewis Kiger

One of the most difficult tasks that the Christian is called to do, is to trust the wisdom and goodness of God when everything seems to be going wrong. Satan, the enemy of our soul, delights to bring suspicion into the mind of the believer. And if we are honest, we are all guilty of doubting the judgment of God when faced with certain adversities.  We wonder, if God is good, then why has He allowed this to happen? If God is good, why didn’t He stop this, or interfere like I asked Him to? This is a common battle within the heart of every child of God. This is where faith enters and reminds us of the goodness of God, and causes us to trust His heart when we can’t trace His hand. 

 Psalms 107:1 “O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”  How terrifying it would be, if God were All-powerful, but wasn’t also good. Many men have been corrupted by power. Countless lives have been lost and great harm has been done, by the wicked hands of fallen men who have had great authority but were not governed by decency. It would be frightening, to consider a god who had supreme power, and was not concerned with virtue or integrity. This god, might arbitrarily crush us or randomly punish us. But our God, the God of the Bible is a good God, of immutable goodness. He is eternally good. Psalms 52:1 “the goodness of God endureth continually."

 His very essence is good. His disposition is good. His being is good. God is the very source of goodness. James 1:17 says that every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above. When you remove God from the schoolhouse, you removed goodness from the schoolhouse. When God is excluded from the courthouse, then goodness is excluded. And easily can we see the results of this, because men, by nature, are not good.

Romans 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

 These verses do not mean that men aren’t capable of doing good and moral things. Soldiers die on the battlefield for their country. Mothers love and nourish their children. Yet, when it comes to pleasing God and the spiritual state of man, there is none inherently good, no not one.  Apart from Christ, men have no spiritual comeliness. We should agree with the Apostle Paul and say: “for I know that in me, that is, in my flesh; dwelleth no good thing.” Any spiritual goodness that dwells within us, is merely because we have been made partakers of the Divine nature of God, by the indwelling of His Spirit.

 Once I knew a man who had a dog that was born deaf. Many suggested that he should have the dog put down, because it would not be able to take care of itself and would always be in danger. He decided to keep the dog and he worked with it, and learned to communicate with him by hand signals. He could wave his hands in a certain way to get the dog to come, or sit. The remarkable thing about the dog was that even though he was born deaf and had never heard a sound in its life, still that dog would bark. When strangers would approach, or when it saw another animal, the dog would bark. No one had to teach it, or train it to do this, it was his nature.

 In like manner, no one had to show God how to be good. God is naturally good. It is His nature to be good. He is good all by Himself. We have to teach children how to be good. How to conduct themselves, how to behave, yet, goodness springs from God because He is inherently good. This is yet another way, in which God is so much higher and holier than we.

In the midst of trials and adversity, we must remember, God is good. When life seems to be spiraling out of control, we must have faith that God is good.   God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good.

               

Pastor Lewis Kiger

Memorial Heights Baptist Church

svdbygrace2@roadrunner.com

It's not a joke

During the revolutionary war, there was a play put on by the British in Boston called THE BLOCKADE. In his book 1776, David McCullough describes the scene of the nights production: 

"A ridiculous figure, supposed to be George Washington, stumbled on stage wearing an oversized wig and dragging a rusty sword. At the same moment, across the bay, Connecticut soldiers led by Major Thomas Knowlton launched a surprise attack on Charlestown, and the British responded with a thunderous cannon barrage. With the roar of the guns, which the audience at Faneuil Hall took to be part of the show, another comic figure, a Yankee sergeant in farmer garb, rushed on stage to say the rebels were "at it tooth and nail over in Charlestown." The audience roared with laughter and "clapped prodigiously", sure that this, too, was part of the fun. 

"But soon finding their mistake [wrote an eyewitness] a general scene of confusion ensured. They immediately hurried out of the house to their alarm posts, some skipping over the orchestra, tamping on fiddles', and in, in short, everyone making his most speedy retreat, the actors (who were all officers) calling out for water to get the paint an smut off their faces, women fainting. etc."

As the British amused themselves, mocking the American army, the Americans were actually fighting the British. They were so full of themselves laughing at their enemy, they hadn't expected the enemy to actually fight them. And when they truth finally came to them, they perceived the warnings were all part of the show. The man who had real and vital news proclaimed his message with fervor, but because he was dressed as a clown, when he spoke, he spoke as a clown.

The Faithfulness of God by Lewis Kiger

There was a time in America when a man’s word meant something. When fathers taught their sons that a man is only as good as his word. Sadly, this time has all but vanished in our nation. Now, men will tell you one thing, and do the opposite. Or others will make a commitment, never having any intention of following through on it. As a pastor, I have been told countless times, "You’re right preacher, I need to get back in church; we’ll be there on Sunday.” And the vast majority of the time it doesn’t happen. I like to think some unforeseen event keeps them from doing what they said they would, but then weeks pass and you don’t seem them, and you start to think they never really meant it in the first place.

 In today’s society, lawyers must write impregnable contracts just to get people to do what they have committed to do. No longer is a man’s word his bond, no longer can a handshake be trusted and many of us have learned the hard way that mortal men are just not trustworthy or dependable.

 Thankfully, God is utterly unlike humanity in this way. He is faithful. In 1 Corinthians 1:9 we find these three simple words, “God is faithful.” Those who have known the Lord for any measure of time can attest to the veracity of this statement. God is indeed faithful. We are not, but He is.

 Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. Even when we are faithless, He is faithful. Our undependability does not change God. He cannot deny Himself and He cannot deny who He is. He is faithful, even when all others are not.  You can always count on God. God will always keep His Word and God is as good as His Word. There has never been a promise made that He didn’t fulfill. Never a commitment that He didn’t keep. God is totally and immutably dependable. Faithful all the time, faithful in everything, and faithful to everyone. God is a covenant keeping God. Absolutely and unequivocally reliable.      

  Deuteronomy 7:9 calls Him “the Faithful God.” 1 Peter 4:19 “A faithful Creator.” Hebrews identifies Jesus as our “merciful and faithful high Priest.” In Revelation 3:14 Christ is named “the faithful and True witness.”  In the little book of Lamentations, we read the words “great is thy faithfulness” which was the basis for the old gospel hymn that bears the same name.

 In Yellowstone National Park there is a geyser that tens of thousands of people visit every year. It is not the biggest geyser, nor the most powerful, yet it is well-known and one of the most popular geological tourist attractions in the U.S. You will recognize it by name; Old Faithful. While it does not propel water as high in the air as other natural geysers, yet it never fails to perform. Day by day. Week by week. Month by month. Year by year. Decades and centuries roll on, and still Old faithful can be relied upon to releases its pressure at its appointed time. Well has “she” earned her name.

 And while it would be inappropriate to speak of God as old, He has certainly earned the title of faithful. Decades and centuries have passed and have borne witness to the fact, that the God of the Bible is a faithful God.

 There is an incredible promise made to both the saved and the unsaved in 1 John 1:9. This promise is based on the faithfulness of God. There we read: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There is no sin so grievous that the blood of His Son cannot cleanse. No sinner so far gone that the faithful Father cannot restore. God, and God alone can forgive sin, but we must come to Him based on the merits of Christ’s sinless shed blood which alone can wash us whiter than snow.

 Have you come to God and found Him to be faithful?

 Recognizing our own unfaithfulness and living amidst people who cannot be fully relied upon, it is good to have a God that we can always have confidence in. Great is His Faithfulness.

Pastor Lewis Kiger
Memorial Heights Baptist Church 

svdbygrace2@roadrunner.com

The Glory of God by Lewis Kiger

What is your purpose in life? What is the central goal of your existence? There is an old catechism that says “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Sadly, this simple summary of Biblical truth has been lost in American Consumeristic Christianity. The average person sitting in the pew has either forgotten, or never been taught that everything exists to bring glory to God. In this unashamedly self-centered society, a preacher with godly integrity must regularly remind his hearers that the worship service isn’t all about them; rather it is about God. In the decision making processes of life, the Glory of God has become a secondary issue, rather than our primary motivation. Each of us need to spend some time meditating on the privilege that is ours to bring glory to our Creator.

In Isaiah 42:8 God speaks and says: “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” God will not allow His children to bow at the feet of idols. He will not allow His glory to be shared or His reputation to be sullied. God takes His glory serious, and so should we.

 The God revealed to us in Holy Writ is unmatched in beauty. A God of brilliant grandeur who is magnificent, majestic, and unparalleled in splendor. God is intrinsically glorious. We ascribe glory to God, but we can’t make God glorious, He is glorious all by Himself. Men may deny Him, despise Him, or even blaspheme Him, but this doesn’t change Him, He is immutably glorious.

 Think about this – if every man on earth was born blind, would that detract from the brilliance of the sun? No, in no wise. Neither does the depraved conduct of men detract from the glory of God, He is inherently glorious. This glorious God is worthy of all praise, all honor, all glory! Time and again the Bible demands that we give unto the Lord the glory due His name. God is jealous over His glory. This is not some twisted envy, some covetous green-eyed monster but as the Supreme Sovereign of the Universe, He has the divine right to reverence His own name, above all other gods. In Isaiah 48:11 we read that God will always and only conduct Himself in a way that brings honor to His own name. Everything that God does, He does first and foremost for His own glory. “For my own sake, even for my own sake” the Text reads, “will I do this.”

  We can depend on God to be God, and as such He will be gracious, kind, loving, and judicious. But let us also be clear, that everything God does, He does to honor His own name.

 Notice these verses:

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Colossians 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

 God’s primary motivation is His own Glory. We are the secondary beneficiaries of God’s goodness, but God does what He does, first and foremost, for His own Glory.

 If God’s glory is this important to Him, it ought well to be vitally important to us. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Can you not see the difficulty this instruction brings? It goes against our nature. Our natural inclination is to bring glory to ourselves, thereby robbing God of the glory that is due His name. Yet the commands remains; everything we do, is to bring glory to God. Our homes, our lives, our decisions, our churches should all have one purpose, one motive, one incentive – to bring God glory.  In so doing, we fulfill the role for which we are created and only then do we find true contentment. It is Savior that satisfies, not self. May the anthem of every believer be “To God be the glory, great things He hath done!”

All of heaven will be focused around worshiping this Glorious Triune God.

 

Lewis Kiger is the pastor of the Memorial Heights Baptist Church, in Perry GA. 

He can't help it, he was born this way.

© Dave Krantz

"The water-turkey is the most preposterous bird within the range of ornithology. He is not a bird; he is a neck with such subordinate rights, members, belongings, and heirlooms as seem necessary to that end. He has just enough stomach to arrange nourishment for his neck, just enough wings to fly painfully along with his neck, and just big enough legs to keep his neck from dragging on the ground; and his neck is light- colored, while the rest of him is black." 

On a Florida River by Sidney Lanier

Where do you stand? - Tuesdays with Timothy #37

I Timothy 4: 1-9 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

There are two different types of people in the passage, those that preach and those that listen to preaching. Some will listen to truth and submit to its teaching while others will listen to what they want to hear, regardless of whether it will hold up to Biblical examination. You have preachers that are devoted to the truth of God’s Word and you have preachers that will gladly provide what the people want. Paul will urge pastors in the rest of this epistle to be steadfast in doctrine and in declaring the truth of God’s Word.

Where are you in this passage? If you preach the Word, are you faithful to Christ? Would Paul say that you are a good minister? And you drawn to a man and ministry that Paul would approve of? With Timothy, you have a man that is a faithful preacher of the gospel, preaching the truth to a congregation in which some are going to oppose him. There are competing preachers who are going to provide people with something that is more along the lines of their thinking. But Timothy was not to find out what the people want and get ahead of it. He wasn’t to update the message and make it more exciting. In fact, Timothy is to remind the people of the truth. You cannot put people into remembrance of something they haven’t already heard. Not only was he not to update and revamp the message, but Paul urges him to preach the truth again. And again. The pastor has the responsibility to preach the Word faithfully. The listeners have the responsibility to listen to the faithful Word preached. 

All Timothy can do is preach the Word and stay in the Word. He can't control how people are going to receive the message and he cannot force people to listen. People not liking the message? Preach the Word. Some find this new doctrine more appealing and stimulation? Timothy, remind the people of the Word you have already preached.

One of these days, there are going to be a group of people stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. They are going to have to give an account of why they left Timothy’s preaching. They will have to answer for departing from the truth of Timothy’s message and going after false teachers. They are going to have to answer for ignoring Timothy’s warnings while listening to devilish doctrines. I’m sure there were all kinds of reasons why people were leaving and not listening to Timothy, but I wonder what kind of excuses will hold up on that day?

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray

This is a long one, so instead of the poem, how about I send you to The Poetry Foundation, where you can read it by clicking HERE?

Read? A'int nobody got time for that! YouTube will read it for you.

Would you prefer some analysis? The Thomas Gray Archive has you covered.

Enotes or The Guardian can give you an overview if you like.

Let bygones be bygones?

"This business of letting bygones be bygones has a pleasant sound. But in reality it is the most heartless thing in the world. It will not do at all even in the case of sins committed against our fellow-men. To say nothing of sin against God, what shall be done about the harm that we have wrought to our neighbor? Sometimes, no doubt, the harm can be repaired. If we have defrauded our neighbor of a sum of money, we can pay the sum back with interest. But in the case of the more serious wrongs such repayment is usually quite impossible. The more serious wrongs are those that are done, not to the bodies, but to the souls of men. And who can think with complacency of wrongs of that kind which he has committed? Who can bear to think, for example, of the harm that he has done to those younger than himself by a bad example? And what of those sad words, spoken to those we love, that have left scars never to be obliterated by the hand of time? In the presence of such memories, we are told by the modern preacher simply to repent and to let bygones be bygones But what a heartless thing is such repentance! We escape into some higher, happier, respectable life. But what of those whom we by our example and by our words have helped to drag down to the brink of hell? We forget them and let bygones be bygones!  

Such repentance will never wipe out the guilt of sin--not even sin committed against our fellowmen, to say nothing of sin against our God. The truly penitent man longs to wipe out the effects of sin, not merely to forget sin. But who can wipe out the effects of sin? Others are suffering because of our past sins; and we can attain no real peace until we suffer in their stead. We long to go back into the tangle of our life, and make right the things that are wrong--at least to suffer where we have caused others to suffer. And something like that Christ did for us when He died instead of us on the cross; He atoned for all our sins.  

The sorrow for sins committed against one's fellowmen does indeed remain in the Christian's heart. And he will seek by every means that is within his power to repair the damage that he has done. But atonement at least has been made--made as truly as if the sinner himself had suffered with and for those whom he has wronged. And the sinner himself, by a mystery of grace, becomes right with God. All sin at bottom is a sin against God. "Against thee, thee only have I sinned" is the cry of a true penitent. How terrible is the sin against God! Who can recall the wasted moments and years ? Gone they are, never to return; gone the little allotted span of life; gone the little day in which a man must work. Who can measure the irrevocable guilt of a wasted life? Yet even for such guilt God has provided a fountain of cleansing in the precious blood of Christ. God has clothed us with Christ's righteousness as with a garment; in Christ we stand spotless before the judgment throne."

J. Gresham Machen - Christianity and Liberalism