Simply teaching the Bible, simply

This concluding part of our study in the book of Jonah was given at Calvary Portsmouth by pastor Barry Forder on 23rd January 2022. Trusting God. It’s probably one of the hardest things in the believers walk. Sure, on a sunny day when all is going well, when you are in good health, with no worries, it’s easy to ‘trust’ God then; but in the dark times, when we go through the valleys, when we are grieving, suffering loss of something of someone, when we can’t see a way out of our current predicament, that’s when the walk of faith is really put to the test. That’s when our hearts are called upon to see if we really believe that ‘all things work together for good…’ (Romans 8:28). That is the story of Jonah. Jonah was not a coward who didn’t want to go and preach, he was a patriot, a man who loved the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and loved the nation of Israel – his nation, and desperately wanted to avoid letting Israel’s enemies ‘off the hook’. He may of well prayed daily for deliverance from those who threatened to destroy God’s people. So, courageously, he stood up to defend his people, which meant running from the call to preach a message of hope and repentance to Assyria. The problem was, he did not understand God’s plan. What Jonah thought would only end in disaster for his nation, was part of a much bigger picture, of which he could only see a part. That is one of the greatest lessons that can be gleaned from this short book. Do you trust God no matter what? No matter how is seems to you right now?