The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh....”
Jonah 1:1-2
Friend, the Lord is asking you a very important, life-altering question. Can you hear Him? Just like in the garden of Eden, when God asked Adam, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), your good Father cares about you so much that He pursues you with love and compassion. If you clear away life’s distractions and listen, you will hear Him ask you the same thing. If you’re honest enough to answer, you might be surprised at your reply.
To have a biblical multiple-choice answer sheet for God’s question, let’s use the places from Jonah’s story. The Lord told him to go to the great city of Nineveh, but Jonah didn’t want any part of it. He fled to Joppa, to catch a ship bound for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3). For us today, these same places exist as heart conditions:
A. Joppa
This is when your heart pulls you in the “opposite direction” of the place the Lord is calling you. And just like Jonah headed to Joppa “to get away from the Lord,” the same thing can happen to us if we’re not careful. We never intentionally say we want to run away from Jesus, but this happens when we find ourselves in the slow fade of busyness that takes us away from time in God’s Word and prayer.
B. Tarshish
Psalm 48:7 says, “You destroyed them like the mighty ships of Tarshish.” Other verses describe Tarshish as a bustling seaport that saw very expensive wares pass through. This is the place your heart tempts you to think about. That make-believe place that’s on the other side of the fence where the grass always seems to be greener. “If only I could be there, in that very easy/materialistic place…then my problems would be solved.” It’s the comfortable and stress-free place. It’s where we go to avoid conflict and not deal with the hard stuff of life.
C. Nineveh
Ninevah here represents your area of service to God—where He has called you to minister. Friends, this is where the Lord wants you! Where He will help you become everything that He created you to be. It’s a special place of blessing that isn’t conflict-free but is full of opportunities to make Jesus known in your own heart and in the world. It might be a place that seems completely overwhelming and scary at first, but in the end, it’s where Jesus will reveal His power in and through you to accomplish amazing things for His kingdom and glory.
So, friend, where are you? Don’t ever forget, the devil doesn’t want you in Nineveh!
Dear Lord, please help me get to where You want me to be. Help me get there as fast as I can. Thank You for caring about all of me. Thank You for giving me a plan and a purpose. In Your powerful name I pray, Amen.