Mtr Kelli Joyce

Dear Friends in Christ,

Has there ever been something you knew God wanted you to do... but you really, really didn’t want to do it?

That’s the situation Jonah finds himself in at the beginning of the book that’s named after him. God tells Jonah to go declare judgment on the city of Nineveh for their wickedness and injustice. Jonah responds by promptly getting on a boat heading in the opposite direction.

It’s not entirely clear to me why Jonah thought this would work. He knew God. He knew all the amazing things God had done, and all about God’s power. But still, he tried to run from God’s call.

Of course, that doesn’t end up going so well for him. His efforts to choose a path other than the one God has called him to lead only to chaos and danger, until he finally decides to be selfless and put his life in God’s hands by being thrown overboard so that the storm will stop.

Sometimes that’s how it is with us. We know what God wants from us, but we try to run, and try to force another plan to work instead. Often this goes badly - God, after all, knows better than we do. Other times, it may seem that rejecting God’s plan is going well. But the truth is, we will never truly flourish for long when we spend our energy fighting against the will of the one whose will is for our ultimate good.

What is God calling you to do? How have you chosen to run from God, and how might you begin to turn back this week?

In peace,
Mtr Kelli