It is amazing what our God can do with us when we choose to align our will with His; when we let go of our strong inclinations and yield ourselves to his purposes and intentions.  We talked about that Sunday as we walked with Jonah into Nineveh.

He didn’t want to be there.  He didn’t prepare a very good sermon.  I’m imagining that he didn’t even deliver that not so good sermon with much enthusiasm.  And yet on the first of the three days it might have taken him to get the news to the whole city of Nineveh, the people of that whole city believed God (a God they had not previously known) and took his message so seriously that they put on sackcloth and declared a fast.  The king, upon hearing about that miserable sermon (“40 days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”), declared that humans AND animals would put on sackcloth and eat and drink nothing.  He further declared that they should cry out mightily to the Lord, and turn from their wicked ways, in order to possibly avoid the cataclysm that might be theirs otherwise.

Do you see that had nothing to do with Jonah?  It wasn’t about his skill, his delivery, his intentions, his attitude, his gifts.  It was all about God.  Because when a human person aligns himself or herself with the intentions and purposes of God, amazing things can happen.  When a human being responds to the calling of God, nothing is out of the question.One short, pitiful sermon, and a whole huge city turned Godward and amended their ways.  Isn’t that amazing?

Our God is the God of the impossible.  Nothing is impossible with God.

If you’ve been hanging back, thinking you didn’t have what it takes to respond to God’s calling, now is the moment to reconsider.  Say yes, start in God’s direction, and see what amazing things God has in store for you – but even better, to see what God has in store for those you are called to serve.

Blessings and Peace,

Pastor Deborah