Jonah's defiance

This morning in the book "No More Excuses" I read about Jonah and how he continually went against God's wishes. Jonah was a faithful servant of God and God wanted him to go to Ninevah but Jonah knew if the Ninevites did repent , that Jonah was "saving" the arch enemies of the Israelites. If they did not repent, they would most likely kill him on the spot. Jonah's decision was to do neither and instead he tried to go over 2000 miles in the opposite direction. To make a long story short, God sent a great storm to "rock the boat" and the sailors of the ship tossed Jonah overboard and the storm stopped. Jonah was treading water and still would not acknowledge that it should be God's way or no way. God used a large fish to suck ole Jonah up and finally from inside the belly of this fish (can you imagine the lovely smell?) he began to pray and God had the fish dump him back out on dry land. Again to make a long story short, Jonah went to Ninevah and in one of the greatest revivals ever, the Ninevites turned from their wicked ways and turned to God!! Sadly, Jonah was still not atisfied and went outside the city and watched from a ditance. God let a vine grow over his head to shade him from the blistering sun and even then Jonah was not content so God took the vine away with the help of a tiny worm, and he let the winds blow and left Jonah in the sweltering sun with no shade. Oddly it never says what eventually happened to Jonah after this.

The main theme in this story is we should not be defiant to God's plan. God has a plan for us all and if we get off track He will surely put us back on track but it might be way behind where we started from. I got off track.....way off track but I know what God wants of me and know the reward is well worth the sacrifices I have to make.