Unfazed 3O Day Series: Day 23 “Calm Obedience”

The title sounds nice, right?

What does it look like to walk in calm obedience?

Is there a story that comes up in your head whether in your personal life or in the Bible that shows you what calm obedience looks like, or maybe what it doesn’t look like? Another question is what keeps me from looking to the One that has already told me what to do and why I should desire to do it?

There’s a few stories that come to mind as I write this. One of the ones that comes to mind is the story of Jonah, lets read it together or more summarize because its a bit long.

“The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.” Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. “Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?” Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.” Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.” Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:1-9,12,14-17

ALRIGHT. FIRST AND FOREMOST. THE LORD SPOKE THE WORD TO JONAH. HE TOLD HIM EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DO AND WHERE HE WAS TO GO, IT COULDN’T GET ANY CLEARER.

Did the task sound uncomfortable, absolutely! How would you feel if you knew the Lord was telling you to go speak a word of rebuke or even judgement on some people that weren’t really the nicest people on the block? You would feel just a little hesitant, you would say, ‘was that you Lord?’ Are you sure you’re talking to the right person? I was talking to my best friend about this blog post specifically and she had mentioned how Jonah did not want to go to these people; Jonah hated them and didn’t think they deserved any grace or mercy. Yet, did he realize how much he needed God’s grace and mercy just as much as the people in Nineveh? Do we know how much we need the grace and mercy of God just as much as the person or persons that God sends us too, whether they be people we like or don’t like, all people will be warned and told the Good News and the Sad News of what it is like to be apart from Christ.

So, we see in verse 2-3 he literally goes the opposite direction, he doesn’t want to calmly obey the Lord, he’s running away as far as he can. But obviously how many of us know that we can try to run but the Lord in his divine way brings us back to where he knows we need to run ingot His grace and love, where we need to run into seeing who he really s that we may bow in humble submission to him, and simply calmly obey Him because of how holy and majestic He is. Fear God, not man is all that pops up in my head as I am writing, there is no better place to be but in calm obedience to Him. The Lord truly desires to see us thrive in this place with him, but when we choose to run that is when we run into storms that we never needed to run into and unfortunately we see others get into this storm out of their control and doing. The boat Jonah went into ran into a violent storm. They feared for their lives, can you imagine being in a storm you didn’t cause, or being in a storm you did cause? I am sure we can recall some moments that we did indeed have storms we caused and what was your reaction?

We know Jonah’s reaction, he was dead asleep. he could care less, it’s like he’d rather die than obey? He’d rather (being extreme but am I?) kill others alongside of him, because of his hatred toward the people in Nineveh then bring them this news and hope and pray that they repent and surrender and serve the Lord. But no, he was asleep, and these men on the boat feared for their lives. The only one who is “allowed” to sleep in the moments of chaos is Jesus. Even though, Jesus tells us to follow Him, to be a reflection of Him. When we are humbly submitted and fully trusting in Him we can sleep in the midst of chaos because we live in a chaotic world, but only can we lay our head and enjoy the life he has given us when we are truly walking surrendered to Him. Can people that aren’t adding in Him truly be at peace? Or are they striving to find peace in all the wrong places just because they want to be the ruler of their own life, once we get to that place we are saying our fate, but God, is too kind to not warn us, His heart for this world is that none may perish. That was His heart for the people of Nineveh, that none may perish. Should that not be our heart? We are called to go and make disciples of all nations. We are called to be a light in the darkness. We are called to be a city on a hill. We cannot do any of that outside of abiding in him, fully surrendered to Him because of the knowing of what He has done for us, where He has taken us out of, and where He has transferred us too.

“For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” Colossians 1:13-14

We have been rescued from our fate of hell to the Kingdom of the Son. We are free and forgiven. When we truly believe that, we will choose calm obedience, we choose to go to the ends of the world for the sake of the Gospel because we know the lengths that Christ went for us to be able to say, ‘Thanks be to God.’

Okay, so we see the storm take place, it stops the men on the boat stop and cast lots, and tell Jonah who are you working for that this is happening, because they knew that it wasn’t them causing this. Jonah admits his sin, and we see the sailors say this, “O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.” They knew that the Lord had a good reason for this storm. And from what we see the good reason is that he would realize that God cannot be outrun, and He will meet us where we are and give us the opportunity to walk in His ways for us, we can either surrender or not. So, we see Jonah be eaten by a great fish, that was grace.

“But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.” Jonah 2:9

In the fish, is where he sought God and repentance and vowed to Him that He would obey. Now calmly would he obey or not? If you keep reading you will see he got spit out and went to the city of Nineveh gave the news the Lord told him to say and then we get to the end, y’all the title for chapter 4 is this, Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Mercy! How can we get angry at the Lord’s mercy? His mercy is the reason we have hope, it’s the reason we are breathing, its the reason he promised to not to flood the world again and started over, and we get to be part of the promise of being with Him.

Y’all read this response from the people in Nineveh:

“Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.” Jonah 3:7-10

THEY CHOSE TO REPENT. THEY CHOSE TO TURN FROM THEIR EVIL WAYS, AND TRUST THAT GOD WOULD SHOW THEM GRACE, THEY DIDN’T KNOW HIS CHARACTER FULLY YET (maybe I am not sure) BUT THEY SAID “PERHAPS”… THEY SURRENDERED BY FAITH!

How beautiful is it that we can speak the good news and tell those God sends us to the character of God, His faithfulness and his goodness and mercy, that when they repent and surrendered and believe that he is the Lord that they become a new creation in Him, the old is gone and the new is here, and they now are living from forgiveness and not shame, they can live with perfect peace that no matter what is going on around them they can trust the Lord who holds them in his everlasting arms. We don’t have to doubt his faithful character.

WHEN YOU START TO DOUBT LOOK UP, REMEMBER THE CROSS, SEEK HIS FACE, YOU WILL FIND HIM AND HE WILL STRENGTHEN YOU AND OPEN YOUR EYES TO SEE HIS DEEP LOVE FOR YOU!

“This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.” The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” …. Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” Jonah 4:1-11

Jonah felt more sorry for a plant than 120,000 souls.

Do you feel more sorry about soulless things than the souls in front of you that are walking outside of the goodness of God? If God were to call you up to the bullpen would you step in ready, calmly and fully dressed; we are too be ready at all times as the word says, but if it were right now that he called you into something that was outside of your comfort zone, would you say yes? Clearly he knows that as his daughter, that you have what it takes to walk in calm obedience wherever he sends you. We know longer have to doubt that He has put His spirit in us to speak what He will tell us. We don’t have to fear man, we fear God!

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.   What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven. “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:28-29,31-34

CONFIDENTLY AND CALMY WALK OBEDIENTLY, WHEN YOU DO, WHEN WE DO, THOSE THT WE COME INTO CONTACT WITH WILL SEE HIM WHETHER THEY SAY YES TO GOD OR NOT!

“If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”

1 Peter 4:14-18

MAY WE GO CONFIDENTLY INTO EVERY SPACE WE OCCUPY UNASHAMEDLY PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS AND IGNITING EVERY SOUL WE COME FACE TO FACE WITH KNOWING THAT HIS SPIRIT IS RESTING ON US WHEN FEAR GOD RATHER THAN THE PERSON WE ARE LOOKING AT.