Pat spoke this morning about the need for us to be wholly surrendered to the Lord and seeking more of Him. Recently we have had many messages calling us back to prayer and we need to be a people of prayer. In Jonah 3:1-10, we see how God responds to prayer and repentance, for ‘He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened.’ (Jonah 3:10)
Jonah disobeyed God initially and did not want to go to Nineveh. Only when Jonah admitted his responsibility to God did the storm cease. Sometimes our situations get worse before they get better because we need to surrender to God’s will. We are not all called to be evangelists, but we are all called to be witnesses to God and to be faithful to His calling. When we do this, we see Him move in great ways.
Another example of surrender is Joshua, before the battle of Jericho. The commander of the Lord’s army appeared to him and reminded him (as Moses had been reminded at the burning bush) that the place where he was standing was holy ground. (Josh 5:13-15) For the Israelites, they needed to renew the covenant of circumcision (Josh 5:1-9) and consecrate themselves afresh. We need to be consecrated and committed to God.
The battle of Jericho is well known, but after this came the difficulties when the people of God were defeated at Ai by a much smaller army (Joshua 6 and 7). The problem was Achan’s sin in taking the things which should have been devoted to God. Joshua sought God for the reason behind the defeat (Josh 7:6) and realised that one family’s sin caused defeat for the whole of Israel. He took courageous steps to remedy this and Ai was then destroyed (Josh 8). When we believe and trust God, we will see His victories in our lives.
God has compassion on us and we are all invited to be part of His family (Jesus chose to wash all His disciples’ feet, inlcuding Judas’s). The call to prayer and consecration is for us all, but it is up to us how we respond.
