Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:05] I'm Chuck Allen, and thanks for joining me on today's weekday podcast. Yesterday we talked about, you know, the space in between from where we are to where God wants us to be. And today I want to continue that thought, talking about Jonah, about when here follows you. There's this strange moment in Jonah's story. He finally does what God asks him to do. It says in Jonah, chapter three, beginning in verse three. So Jonah obeyed the Lord's command and went to Nineveh. On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds, 40 days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed. And this wild thing happens. The people actually listen. They repent. They turn from their evil. God has mercy on the whole city. There's a revival. This is a wild success. It's a preacher's dream. But Jonah, Jonah is ticked off. He is furious. He says in Jonah 4:2.
[00:00:58] Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord, I knew that you were a merciful and compassionate God. Slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. Jonah made it to the place God wanted him to be, y'. All. But he hadn't become the person God wanted him to be. He moved his feet, but he never moved his heart. He built the bridge externally, but not internally.
[00:01:22] And this is the danger for a lot of us who love God, who serve, who show up.
[00:01:27] It's not that we won't go where God sends us, is that we'll go physically but refuse to grow spiritually.
[00:01:36] Ouch.
[00:01:38] Let me say that again, is that we'll go physically but refuse to grow spiritually.
[00:01:43] We'll join the ministry, but keep the bitterness. We'll show up for the marriage, but hold on to the resentment.
[00:01:50] We'll move to a new city, but drag the same old wounds behind us.
[00:01:54] Friends, listen. God doesn't just want your Nineveh. He wants the Nineveh out of us. He wants to deal with whatever in us cannot coexist with his love, his mercy and his grace.
[00:02:08] So if you bring it home, maybe you have taken this step of obedience and you try to land the plane. You say yes to something hard. You stepped into the job or the ministry, the conversation or the reconciliation or the service. This but here followed you. The anger came with you. The fear followed you. The control followed you. I mean, could it be that God's now inviting you to build inside bridges? The bridge from defensiveness to openness? Maybe a bridge from cynicism to trust.
[00:02:41] Maybe from they don't deserve grace to I didn't either.
[00:02:47] Here's a simple practice for the day.
[00:02:49] Think of one area where you've obeyed externally, but you've resisted internally. You showed up, but your heart stayed home.
[00:03:00] Name it. Just go ahead, name it. Say it out loud to God. God, I'm doing this, but I'm angry. God, I'm here, but I don't want to forgive. God, I'm serving, but I'm cynical and tired.
[00:03:12] Remember, you can't be healed from what you keep hiding.
[00:03:17] And then ask God, what's the next part of this heart bridge that I'm supposed to build?
[00:03:24] Maybe it's a hard, honest conversation. Maybe it's releasing a grudge. Maybe it's asking for help today. Don't just move your feet. Let Jesus move your heart.
[00:03:35] Let him show you gently, firmly how to reshape your heart. I mean, let him show you where here has followed you into there.
[00:03:45] And then ask him for the courage to lay it down. I just say a hearty amen. Amen and Amen. God bless you, friends. Thanks so much for joining me on today's weekday podcast.
