Mistakes are part of God's plan too!

[memoriesbymichelle]

We just started a "series" at church about Jonah. I really am starting to dread the fact that my church feels they have to have a "series" instead of preaching messages but I digress....
So last Sunday we were talking about the fact that Jonah didn't want to do what God told him to do, which was go to Ninevah and warn the people there, so instead he went the opposite direction and headed for Tarshish. Probably most of us know the story, right? God causes a big storm to come and the people in the boat are freaking out, calling out to their gods, and Jonah is asleep! So they wake him up and say why aren't you calling out to your God? Maybe He will save us from this storm. Eventually they get the story from Jonah that it's all his fault and as soon as they toss him overboard the storm ceases, just as Jonah told them it would. Here is the thing I never noticed in the story before. Maybe I am late to the table in learning this, but it occurred to me, that IF Jonah had just went to Ninevah as God told him, these people in the boat would never have experienced Jonah's God! They might not know Jonah's God at all if it hadn't been for Jonah making a "mistake" by not obeying God at the first.

IDK, it was comforting to me to realize that God even uses our mistakes or wrong decisions, for His glory and His plan. Of course He knows the end from the beginning, but still isn't it nice to know that our mistakes are also part of God's plan?

 

[Bridgit]

Maybe I am late to the table in learning this, but it occurred to me, that IF Jonah had just went to Ninevah as God told him, these people in the boat would never have experienced Jonah's God! They might not know Jonah's God at all if it hadn't been for Jonah making a "mistake" by not obeying God at the first.

IDK, it was comforting to me to realize that God even uses our mistakes or wrong decisions, for His glory and His plan. Of course He knows the end from the beginning, but still isn't it nice to know that our mistakes are also part of God's plan?

So true! One of my favorite story is the one about Joseph. As he said to his brothers: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people." or in NKJV "you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."

I believe that there are no coincidence with God. All is planned and all fit into His ultimate purpose. This is difficult to impossible to understand how it works and to distinguish where the demarcation between free will and God's will is.

But it is very encouraging to me to read these passages as I am going through some very challenging times right now and I choose to believe that though it is stressful to go through these times, God has an excellent purpose for them, both for me and for His glory.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmen!

That's one thing I really do love about the Bible is all the stories of all the people that went thru more horrific stuff than I ever hope to and made mistakes before during and after, and God STILL blessed them and gave them as examples to us.

The one thing I DON'T like about all the stories though, is the amount of time that passes. Like Joseph had to grow up, and be a slave, for alot of years before he became Pharohs 2nd in charge.
Job had to suffer a long time, Abraham had to wait 25 years to have Isaac and he was already old when God told him he would have a son and that God would make him the father of many nations.
So in times where we have one trial after another, seemingly, I get tired, and wonder how I will make it for the long haul....I know I will never stop believing and focusing on trusting God, but we all get tired sometimes.

 

[dayhiker]

Michelle, I'd not thought of that about Jonah before. Very good point and oh so true.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Michelle, I'd not thought of that about Jonah before. Very good point and oh so true.

I know, right? I hadn't either! That's what is so cool about the Bible is that there are SO many nuggets and we just cannot get them all, ever! But we do get them, sometimes just at the right time.

 

[exitstageright]

I know, right? I hadn't either! That's what is so cool about the Bible is that there are SO many nuggets and we just cannot get them all, ever! But we do get them, sometimes just at the right time.

When I was a child,I was in my father's bible study. My father was my teacher. The first time,that I heard that verse about all things working together for good to those that love the LORD,was in that bible study class.
I always thought that verse pertained to only big things in life.
Two very short stories come to mind.

During the NFL Championship Game in San Francisco,the 49ers were winning. Yet,the 49ers lost the game because Roger Craig fumbled the ball. I had booked a trip to go to the Super Bowl for the following week. I cancelled the trip. This thought came to me,"You can spend Super Bowl Sunday mopping around,while feeling sorry for yourself,or you can go to Matzatlan,Mexico." I booked a trip to Mexico. Well,that Sunday in Mexico,on Super Bowl Sunday,I went deep sea fishing.No,there was no storm out at sea,as in Jonah's case. I caught(and I have a picture to prove it) a 6 foot,8 inch,104 pound marlin. So if Roger Craig had not fumbled that football,I would not have caught that big fish.

One time at a 49er Game in San Francisco,a player for the Kansas City Chiefs,Tony Gonzales,got knocked out of bounds,and crashed into someone on the sidelines. This man got hit by Tony Gonzales,fell to the ground,bumped his head,and was knocked out cold. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital for a CAT scan. His CAT scan revealed that he had a benign ( non-cancerous) brain tumor!

I am totaly convinced that GOD does allow some bad things to happen in our lives that would turn out to benefit us.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Or....to benefit someone elses life like in Jonah's case the men on the boat to Tarshish that didn't know Jonah's God.

 

[dayhiker]

An other thing about Jonah that I believe, but have only heard one person preach. When Jonah was cast overboard it describes him seeing the mtns at the bottom of the sea. That says to me he was in the water long enough to have drown. I think Jonah died and when the whale puked him up onto the sea shore, God raised him from the dead.

Adds new meaning to Jesus' words, as Jonah was in the belly of the whale ...

 

[exitstageright]

An other thing about Jonah that I believe, but have only heard one person preach. When Jonah was cast overboard it describes him seeing the mtns at the bottom of the sea. That says to me he was in the water long enough to have drown. I think Jonah died and when the whale puked him up onto the sea shore, God raised him from the dead.

Adds new meaning to Jesus' words, as Jonah was in the belly of the whale ...

Very interesting! We all assumed that a whale swallowed Jonah. It could have been a big,dinosuar-like fish from pre-historic times.

 

[dayhiker]

That it could have been. Way back when, they didn't have a name for every veriety of fish like we do today.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

I don't think Jonah drowned and was raised from the dead because he was in the fish's belly for 3 days and was conscious during those 3 days. just sayin'

 

[exitstageright]

I don't think Jonah drowned and was raised from the dead because he was in the fish's belly for 3 days and was conscious during those 3 days. just sayin'

You are right. Jonah prayed to GOD while in the fish's belly. Dead men pray no prayers.

Also,in the Book of Jonah,it says that GOD prepared a big fish to swallow up Jonah. Perhaps this fish was big enough to have a huge belly that had enough oxyigen to keep someone alive for three days. Maybe the belly did not have any hydrochloric acid in it as not to dissolve or somehow injure Jonah.

 

[dayhiker]

Jonah 1-4

New International Version (NIV)


Jonah’s Prayer17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 2 1 [a]From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:
“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
4 I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,[b]
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.

7 “When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.

8 “Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.




Yup, Jonah prayed from the belly of the whale. But I don't know anyone who can hold their breath long enough to go thru all the waves that washed over him, sink to the bottom of the mtns in the sea and have sea weed wrap around ones head and still be alive. God bring him back from the pit, an expression of where the dead go. That's why I think Jonah drowned.