A
Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to Tarshish….
Today's
Three-minute Bible Study
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Study and Apply
Title:
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to
Tarshish....-----------------------------------
Date: 12/3/2001
Keywords:
"fleeing"
Welcome
to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand
strong in the face of sexual temptation.
Passage:
Jonah 1:1-3;
2:9*
1:1. The word of the LORD
came to Jonah son of Amittai:
1:2. "Go to the great city of
Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness
has come up before me."
1:3. But Jonah ran away from the
LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa,
where he found a ship bound for that port. After
paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for
Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
2:9. But I, with a song of
thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed
I will make good. Salvation comes from the
LORD."
Questions
1. What was God’s
command to Jonah, a prophet of Israel?
2. To what city did Jonah go
(verse 3)?
3. What does Jonah promise God
(chapter 2, verse 9)?
Practical
help
Jonah’s story is
familiar to many. He was told to evangelize Nineveh,
the capital city of the Assyrian empire, Israel’s
sworn enemy. Instead of traveling east to Nineveh,
though, Jonah booked passage on a westbound ship
headed for Tarshish (present-day Spain). God
intercepted him with a storm and a whale that
swallowed him whole and deposited him, somewhat
yucched up, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.
God made His point: You can’t run from God! And,
from that launch point, Jonah walked to Nineveh to
preach to the people who lived there.
Today, you and I listen to the
still, small voice of the Spirit of God, "Stop looking
at sexually explicit images on your computer. Turn
away from it!" Jonah-like, we turn away, instead, from
holiness and continue on our way to the Tarshish of
porn.
God is able to bring us to
obedience. He used the calamity of a storm on the high
seas and the miserable experience of being swallowed
by a whale to get Jonah’s attention. What will it
take for Him to get yours?
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2001 by eXXit
*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD
BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960,
1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.
Used by permission."