Jonah

I am leading a Jonah bible study at my church this fall.  I am not really a leader, just a facilitator.  I am much better at writing than leading.  The bible study is "Jonah - Navigating a Life Interrupted" by Priscilla Shirer. If you have never done this study I highly recommend it, she is powerful on the DVD videos (you can watch online for a fee or through your church if they have it) and the workbook you fill out makes you reevaluate choices in your life.  I will be using this study along with the bible for the book of Jonah, although I will not be using everything from Priscilla's book because I would love if you got the book yourself to do with a group or even by yourself and I want to be respectful to the author.

I have read Jonah many times and after really diving into this study I now know that I am Jonah, probably along with many of you.  God has told me to do many things and I like Jonah made a choice to go in the other direction.

The interruptions in our lives we see as annoying pests, they derail us from the track we were on, the track we thought was right for us.  Many times God has other plans that we could never see, never dare to hope for or something that we would never want to do.  We can never get away from the distractions of life, there will be seasons in our life that we are distracted constantly.  There are two different kinds of interruptions: the distractions from this world and Godly interruptions.  We choose which ones we will follow every day.  I hope you will see yourself in this man just like I have and when God calls us to do something that from now on we will choose Him instead of going with our thoughts or feelings.

Here are some the people in the bible who were interrupted -

Moses - was taken away from his family and adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter, God sent him to Pharaoh (not his step grandpa) to free the Israelite's

Abraham/Sarah - God told him that his wife Sarah would have a baby at the age of 90 and he was 100

Joseph - his brother's betrayed him and sold him as a slave, he was thrown into jail, he was put in charge of all of Egypt

Mary - she was planning a wedding and was told that she would give birth to Jesus

All of these people and many others had lives that were interrupted on such a large scale sometimes it is hard to see comparisons in their lives and ours, but I think that if we look back on our lives then we will start to see some massive interruptions that will line up with similar experiences with people in the bible.