The theme for this website is “To Find the Presence of the One True God.” You literally cannot escape the presence of the One True God anywhere on this planet and beyond. But to illustrate this point, I thought it would be to best find someone who tried to flee from the presence of God and failed. The person I am referring to is the prophet Jonah, who has an entire book of the Bible written about him.
Now Jonah was a prophet of the One True God meaning that God spoke to him and through him. Jonah would receive the Word from God and he was to dispense God’s message to His desired audience. God decided He wanted to reach out to the people of Nineveh. The story goes that these people’s hearts were far from God. They probably didn’t know God existed. They were known far and wide for their wicked deeds, which Jonah knew all too well. This was the main problem Jonah had with the task that God set before him. Jonah thought these people were far too wicked and therefore they didn’t deserve the right for a second chance. So, Jonah decided to escape on a ship heading for Tarshish, a 3,000 mile journey away from Nineveh. Talk about a long-distance relationship!
Well, you can read Jonah’s story in the Bible for all the fishy details on how God rerouted Jonah to Nineveh. I will give you a spoiler alert: it involves transportation by whale. (Who would’ve thought?) So anyway, Jonah arrives at Nineveh and gives God’s message to the people there. The message was this: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Now here is the kicker: the people of Nineveh believed God’s message. Nineveh was a large, commercial city, and all the people believed God’s warning. They believed and heeded the message. They repented of their wicked ways and turned their hearts toward God. Because of their repentance, God decided to spare them from destruction.
My point of this story is this: God is compassionate and slow to anger. His presence changed an entire city—a very wicked city—in a very short time period. God didn’t want to bring down fire to destroy it. He wanted to spare their lives. Sometimes as a father, you have to draw a line in the sand and say to your children, “If you cross it, you pay the consequences.” Bottom line is that there is no place to hide from God. He sees all, hears all, and knows all. Can you not listen to God when He speaks to you? Absolutely, you can ignore the calling of God. This is not a wise choice—just read about Jonah’s story. God wants his children to listen to His voice to follow His plan for their lives. Why? Because He sees all, hears all, and knows all, and besides that He has your best interests for your life. Who better to listen to? God leaves that choice up to you, but remember, just like Nineveh, there will be a line drawn in the sand. If you cross it, you will pay the price. None of us knows when our last breath will be; it’s better to know where you stand with God before that day arrives. I pray you make the wise choice.
Finally, God is in the business of changing lives. Look at people of Nineveh, the most notably wicked people on the planet, but God had a plan to draw them to Himself. To work in their hearts and restore their lives back to the One True God. Only the One True God can bring restoration to your soul. Maybe you don’t serve any god right now. Maybe your life is living for just yourself, for you and you alone. Guess what, you just made yourself a god. No other god, including yourself, has the capability to bring new life, which is why I love to write about the One True God.
Discussions to make God known 