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Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
As he runs away from Almighty God and as he runs away from his calling, and as he sets out on this Mediterranean cruise, Jonah, the man of God, is asleep. Sin can make you sleep.
Many Christians are asleep to all that is going on around them – politically – economically – morally – spiritually.
What a picture! A rebellious church asleep in the midst of a storm – and you do not know you are asleep, until you wake up!
The church can make decisions and do things when asleep which she would not otherwise make when awake!
The pagans rebuke him and wake him up and try to bring him to his senses.
Will the world come and wake us up? But of course, that is not the task of the world – it is the task of the Church of Jesus Christ to awaken the world to its need and needs.
The sailors challenge him to pray and he cannot.
When you are on the run from God, it is difficult to pray.
In this situation the only man who does not pray is the man of God!
Verse 7 – The sailors want to discover why they are going through all this, and they discover it is because of Jonah.
They cast lots – nobody really had the answer. Let’s try this.
Let’s try the next thing – anything – and this man is the salt of the earth and part of the people called to be the light of the world – but he is soon to be in the brine, and his light at this moment is not very bright.
“Let’s not hold to the whole Word of God. Let’s accommodate people of the same sex being allowed to ‘marry’. What else can we do to let the world see that we are culturally conditioned?”
All that has been attempted previously, and with disastrous consequences.
Who are you? What do you do? He has got all the right words.
Here is a warning concerning becoming friends with the world and seeking to conceal your identity.
The world will never become friendly with the Church of Jesus Christ, by the Church trying to be friendly with the world, and the world really never appreciates our comprising here and compromising there.
When the sailors realise who is on board, and who Jonah really is, they become quite afraid – terrified.
What can we do? Throw him overboard! Get rid of him!
Get rid of the man of God – and the book of God – God’s book!
This is a very relevant contemporary situation.
“Let’s get rid of God’s book. Let’s get rid of the Bible – well, perhaps not all of it – we will keep some parts.” Ah, but what parts?
This happened around 130 years ago in Scotland. One man who had been in the front line of this attempt to preserve what was central and focal, and what some thought was ultra important in the Bible, believing that other Scriptures could be overlooked or discarded, wrote near the end of his life – “The churches won’t know themselves in fifty years time. It is hoped some little rag of faith may be left when all is done.”
Wherever you are, and whatever your situation might be, allow me to encourage you to hold fast and true to the Word of God as we have that Word in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
And be in the Word of God daily. Read it, and study it, and know what God has said in His Holy Word.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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