Week of November 8, 2024

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” (Jonah 3: 1-2, NKJV)

Jonah didn’t like the assignment God gave him. He was to get on a boat and head to Nineveh a place he was not interested in visiting. Jonah was to warn the people of God’s approaching judgment and to tell them to repent. Jonah fled in the opposite direction hoping to escape from God’s command. God didn’t make a mistake the first time so He spoke to Jonah again. His second message was the same as the first. Though God did not speak to Jonah the second time until he had been in the belly of a great fish for 3 days and 3 nights. He was now ready to hear God speak.

God also spoke to the prophet Jeremiah two times. “While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him a second time: 2 “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: 3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ “Jeremiah 33:1-3. Jeremiah accepted God’s word to him the first time. He spoke to him the second time to give him additional enlightenment of what He had first told him.

What God says to us next will depend on how we respond to His previous word to us. If like Jonah we disobey His earlier instructions God will give them to us a second time. If we obey His first instructions He will give us a fuller revelation of His will.

If we are not receiving fuller, additional revelation from God then we need to return to the last thing God told us and examine our obedience. Hopefully we are like Jeremiah and we properly respond the first time.

God Bless, Pastor Rick