God of the Second Chance

If you would like to listen to this devotional, please click here

 Dear Friends,
God of the Second Chance

I'm so glad God is a God of second chances. Actually. not just God of second chances, but also third, fourth and so on chances. You see, there are times when I fail God, when I  make mistakes, when I deliberately go my own way. But God never ever gives up on me. he pursues a relationship with me, that I might have the joy which comes from loving, knowing and serving him.

We see an example of this in the life of Jonah, one of his prophets in the Old Testament. Before we look into this, would you just read the first chapter from the book of Jonah for yourself. (To read it click here)

These are some of the things I've learned from Jonah:

1. God's call to Jonah.

"The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai". Jonah 1:1 (HCSB)

God knew exactly who he was calling. He knew his name. God calls you and me by name too. He knows exactly who we are when he seeks us. When you realise God knows you by name you begin to realise that he actually knows you. Knows you better even than you know yourself.

Not only does God call us because he wants a relationship with us, but he also calls us to serve him. God knew exactly who he wanted for the task of speaking to the people in Ninevah. He could have called one of Jonah's contemporaries (Joel, Amos or Hosea) or someone entirely different. But he didn't, he chose Jonah. 

 If you sense God calling you to do something it's because he knows exactly who he wants for the task and that person is you. You may not agree with God or you may not understand why he has chosen you, but you can be sure of one thing - if God calls you he will equip you for the task.

Jonah recognised it was God who was speaking to him. He was familiar with hearing God's voice because he had heard God speak to him before. 

Do you recognise when God is speaking to you? You and I learn to recognise God's voice as we spend time with him, as we build a relationship with him. When we spend regular quality time with God we learn to differentiate between God's voice and another's. If we never take time to be with God we can't complain that we never hear his voice.

God called Jonah out of his comfort zone. He called him to prophesy to the Ninevites, Israel's enemies, instead of prophesying to God's own people. Can you imagine how Jonah must have felt being given this task? He must have had all kinds of emotions, ranging from fear to anger.

There have been times in my life, and probably in yours too when God has called me to do something out of my comfort zone. I have found that although it's usually scary I would rather be stepping out of my comfort zone and be in line with God's will than stay right where I am but outside of his will.


2. Jonah's response to God's call.

“'Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their wickedness has confronted Me.' However, Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, from the Lord’s presence." Jonah 1:2-3 (HCSB)

There is no doubt Jonah heard God's voice, after all, we have what God told him to do recorded for us in the Bible. Having heard God, Jonah had a decision to make, would he obey or disobey God? We have that same decision to make when we hear God calling us. Will we obey God or disobey him and go in a completely different direction? Have you ever been like Jonah, making the choice to ignore God and try to run from him and his purpose for you? 


3. Jonah's second chance.

God disciplines Jonah for his disobedience (see Jonah 1&2). Jonah had to face the consequences of his actions, just as we do when we disobey God. However, God's purpose was not to destroy Jonah but to bring him to repentance and restore him to a right relationship with God. God loved him and God loves you and me too much to leave us in our sin and in our mess. He pursued Jonah and never gave up on him. Be assured that he does the same for you and me too. 

The result of God's discipline was that Jonah came to repentance, his relationship with God grew stronger and he desired to do the will of God, even though it meant doing something way out of his comfort zone. When Jonah received the call from God a second time his response is very different from his response the first time.


Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.” So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command. Jonah 3:1-3 (HCSB)


God showed Jonah he is a God of grace and mercy. He didn't give up on Jonah but gave him another chance to step out of his comfort zone and be obedient.

God is the same today as he was all those years ago during Jonah's lifetime. So don't be disheartened or stuck in the past ashamed of your sin and your failures. God is here, he is still pursuing you, wanting to bring restoration to your life. He never washes his hands of you because he loves you so much and wants the best for you. He wants to give you another chance to do what he is asking of you. 

What will you do with the second chance he is offering you?

To Think About:
Do you recognise God's voice when he speaks? How can you become better at hearing his voice?

Do you sense God is calling you out of your comfort zone to do something new for him? What will your response be?

Have you ever experienced God disciplining you? How did you respond to it and what was the result?

Vicki


If you enjoyed reading this devotional blog, then you may like to know that my book "Dear Friend...52 Weekly Devotions to Encourage, Challenge and Inspire" is available to buy from Amazon, on Kindle or in paperback. (Its content is material adapted from past blog posts.) To learn more, click on the link below:

https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/bloggergrid
https://www.faithfulbloggers.com




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts

Do You Know You Are God's Prized Possession?

Dear Friends, Do you know that God considers you his prized possession? Maybe you find that hard to believe. You may think that because of what you've done or what's been done to you that you are not special, that you are not worth much. You may have a negative self-image and you may compare yourself with others and believe they are so much better than you. But the truth is that you are so much more than what you think you are. How do I know that? Because that's what the Bible tells me and if I want to know the truth about God and myself I go to the Bible. It's there I learn that being prized by God means that I am treasured, valued, cherished and much loved by him. At the moment I'm reading the book of James, and rather than rush through it I'm taking my time so that I can really feed on it and digest it. It's taken me most of the week to read the first chapter, but it's been a good investment of my time. It's why today I'm writing about
Read more

You Are The Apple of God's Eye

Image
Dear Friends,  When I was a child we would sing a song about having a great, big, wonderful God  who never leaves us and who is ready to catch us when we stumble because we are  the apple of his eye. I used to enjoy singing it and although I never fully understood what it really meant to be  the apple of God's eye, I knew it was connected to God loving me. If you are a similar age to me and grew up in church, you may be familiar with this song too. At the time I never realised that the phrase "the apple of God's eye" came from the Bible. But I was reminded of this song a few weeks ago when I read the following verse in the Bible: Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8  (NIV) The idea of being the apple of God's eye has been on my mind since then, so I decided I wanted to know more about what it means to be the apple of God's eye.  Here's what I learned: The phrase "apple of the eye"
Read more

You are God's Favourite

Image
Dear Friends, I love my children and will sometimes say to them "You are my favourite son/daughter."  The response I usually get from them is a groan or rolling of the eyes and "Mu-um, I'm your only son/daughter."  I tell them, "Yes, but you're still my favourite!"  It's my way of letting them know how much I love them, how precious, how special they are to me.  For me, it's a picture of how I believe God loves each one of us.  He loves me in such a way that he says to me, "You're my favourite!"  And I believe he loves you in such a way too and says "You're my favourite!". God loves each one of us with an incredible, incomparable, unconditional love.  A love that goes beyond the ordinary.  A love that is pure and selfless.  A genuine love.  A love that is beyond our understanding.  He loves us each individually and considers us all his favourite. I love words and I love the word used to describe how Go
Read more

The Apprentice Prayer

Image
Dear Friends, I receive devotional emails from the website "Soul Shepherding".  In one of the emails several months ago Bill Gaultiere shared  "The Apprentice Prayer". I have printed it out and placed it in my journal so I can refer back to it and pray it again.  This is the Apprentice Prayer:  Jesus, I love you! Father, I adore you! Holy Spirit, I rely on you! Lord Jesus, I seek to live as your apprentice in all that I do today. My life is your school for teaching me. I relinquish my agenda for this day and I submit myself to you and your kingdom purposes. In all situations I abandon outcomes to you, praying, “Your will, your way, your time.” Dear Father, I ask you to ordain the events of this day and use them to make me more like Jesus. I trust you, Sovereign Lord, that you won’t let anything happen to my family or me today, except that it passes through your loving hands. So no matter what problems, hardships, or
Read more

The Blessing Of Pain

Dear Friends, I’ve been thinking about pain quite a bit this past week, probably because I’m in the midst of it at the moment!   My close friends and family know that I have been to the National Migraine Clinic (NMC) in London.   Before they can treat the migraines I need to take a 12 week break from all my painkillers.   This is proving difficult as I also rely on painkillers most days to manage & tolerate the muscle pain caused by M.E.   The leg pain in particular has been almost unbearable, sitting, laying on the sofa, in bed, heat treatment, massage mat; none of these things have provided me with much relief. We all experience pain in our lives, the cause of it will be different, the intensity of it varies, but pain is still pain and it hurts!   I don’t enjoy pain and I don’t seek it out, however, God is teaching me that there is blessing in pain.   It’s my experience of this that I want to share with you today that you may be encouraged and blessed too. Alth
Read more

The Teacup Story

Image
If you would like to listen to this devotional please click  here Dear Friends, The Potter's Wheel A couple of weeks back I was reminded about a story I had read a few years ago. It's called "The Teacup Story" but before I share it with you, let's go to the Bible. Jeremiah was one of God's prophets in the Old Testament. He was called by God to pass messages on to God's people. In Jeremiah 18:1-6  we read about an object lesson God gave to Jeremiah and which is still relevant for us today: God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.” So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’
Read more

"God Is Taking Everything Away From Me"

Dear Friends, When I was first diagnosed with M.E (M yalgic Encephalomyelitis)  in the late 1990s I really struggled to come to terms with it. I can remember in the early years and when it was at its worst saying that God was taking everything away from me. This was truly how I felt, and the hurt and the pain from what I was losing was intense. It's a pain which actually cannot fully be put into words. Not only had I lost my health and strength, I had to give up work and I wasn't able to do the things I'd been doing at church, such as leading Sunday School and running a youth group with my husband. Jason and I had married in the Summer of 1995 and the illness meant I wasn't able to do all I wanted to do in the home or to be the kind of wife I wanted to be for Jason and I wasn't able to socialise (for me that meant not going to church and mixing with church friends). It really felt like God was taking everything away from me and like I said, it was extremely pa
Read more

Mary and Elizabeth's Friendship

Dear Friends, Last week we looked at Mary's response to the news Angel Gabriel brought her that she was going to be with child, and that the child would be Jesus, the Saviour of the world.   At the same time, the Angel told her that " your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month." Luke 1:36 (NLT)   I don't know for sure, but I believe that being in the early stages of pregnancy must have been quite a vulnerable time for Mary.  Physical changes within her body, experiencing a variety of emotions and having to cope with people's responses to her news.  It could not have been an easy time for her, and I imagine she must have felt quite alone in it as she had to face the misunderstanding, criticism and judgement from those around her. But she remembered what the Angel had told her about Elizabeth and " 39  A few days later Mary hurried to the hill c
Read more

Set Your Sights on the Realities of Heaven

Image
Dear Friends, Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-3 "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. 2  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God." (NLT) I read these verses one morning when I was in the middle of a bad spell of migraines.  The spell lasted for ten days.  Some of the days were extremely painful when I just couldn't function normally, some were more bearable and I could live with the pain and some days I woke free from the pain and hoped for a pain-free day only for the migraine to develop later in the day.  I know that some of you reading this will have experienced pain much worse than this.  You may be going through something right now which is almost unbearable.  Whatever that painful experience may be, it's not pleasant!  Whether it's
Read more

Do You Know That God has Tattoos?

Image
Dear Friends, We have framed photos of many of our family, especially our two children, in our home in several of the rooms and Jason also has a photo of Josh and Jess on his desk at work.  Why do we keep these photos visible and not just in an album?  Because our family are precious to us, we love them, they bring us joy and when we see their photos we are reminded of them and how much they mean to us.  They may not be with us all the time, but with the use of photography they are kept close to us. God has an even better way of keeping us, his children, in his thoughts.  It says in Isaiah 49:16 " See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands." (NLT).  Just spend a few moments dwelling on this verse - God has written my name, Vicki, he's written your name, on the palm of his hand.  Why would he do that?  I believe it's because he loves us so much that he wants us ever before him.  We are precious to him, he cares about us, he's interested in the th
Read more