The 'Jonah Syndrome'

I think God's chastisement can be part of His plan for you!

Well I trust God in his word to be truthfull when saying....

That the mind of a man plans his way....but the Lord directs his steps...

Stinker said:

This is when a Christian is bent on going about their life, his/her way, when God has a specific plan for you.

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But Jonah disobeyed God.
God's plan for him was to be a prophet, and he was. At some point the Lord told him to go and prophesy/preach to a certain group of people - and Jonah refused.

Stinker said:

How does one know that this is what is occurring to them and not just God chastising them?
I think the only way one can know the answer is through experience. One need not have made a decision to move somewhere or take another job, etc.,
for God to chastize them. As a matter of fact, one need not have done anything at all for God to do that to them.

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Why do you think that God chastises us for getting it wrong, or maybe for no reason at all?

God can, and does, lead his children. If we have submitted ourselves to God and really want to know his will,
then he will show us. Subsequent difficulties do not mean that we got it wrong and are now being punished.
We may, for example, take a job that we believe God is calling us to do, and find it more difficult than we thought, or that the job comes to an end after a few months - that has happened to me a couple of times.
I don't know why that was, but it wasn't chastisement or punishment. Maybe God just wanted me there for a particular time for a particular reason - which I will find out later. Maybe the difficulties were part of the plan; we grow in adversity, and if we have to fight for something, we learn what is really important to us and how much we want it. Then there is the area of spiritual warfare - the devil will not want us to do God's will, and will try to encourage us to give up.

But even if we do misunderstand what God wants us to do and get on to the wrong path, it's not a sin; even if it were,
Jesus has taken the punishment for my sins. God doesn't punish me for them, I am forgiven in Jesus.

Stinker said:

What I am referring to are the kinds of negative things and the number of them, that makes them beyond circumstance.
The last time that this happened to me was 3 years ago. Within the first month after having relocated to another town,
we started having very unusual negative things and circumstances occur. We started writing them down as they occurred. Within the first 30 days we had 20 very unusual negative things occur. None of them the things that might occur due to a relocation. Before I got out of there a few months later, the list grew to 30 things.

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Again, this doesn't mean that God is punishing you because you got it wrong.
Maybe he is even testing you to see how much you want this, and whether you are prepared to remain faithful and persevere.

Stinker said:

That was just one "Jonah Syndrome' I experienced. I have had a number of them before, but I never put it all together until this last one.
I wonder how many other Christians have never put it all together and just chaulked it up to a string of bad luck. The thing about this 'Syndrome' is that others are affected with you....and because of you.

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But again, Jonah clearly heard God's word and was disobedient.
He knew he had sinned - by his response to the sailors - and God graciously gave him a second chance. Jonah repented of his disobedience and did the thing that God had asked him to do in the first place.
In Jonah's case, it was a sin - he deliberately said 'no' to God. And this sin did affect others, as sin often does.