Lesson 33: God’s Sovereignty Gets You to Witness for Him

Jonah 1:1-4, 11-12, 15, 17 - "Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD…But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” … So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."

How many of you would say that getting swallowed by a giant fish is truly a bad day? Why in the world would God allow His child, the Prophet Jonah, to get swallowed by a giant fish?" The answer is that Jonah refused to do what God called Him to do. He was to preach to the Ninevites to get right with God, before God would judge them. God cares for the lost. He does not want them to go to hell! So He sent Jonah, His child, to tell them the good news that they do not have to go there. They can become God's child. But when Jonah refused, God sent a hardship his way to get him to do it anyway.


Did you know that God also allows hardships to come our way, to get us to witness just like Jonah, even whale-sized circumstances to encourage us to do what He asks? We all say we want to be a faithful witness for Jesus. We want to get out there and tell other people about Him but the very last thing on our priority list is being a witness for Jesus! We too, just like Jonah, run the other way!

So out of mercy, God orchestrates a few difficulties and we learn to either keep trying to run from God and not do what He calls us to do, or we can get busy witnessing, doing what He asks us to do. As we obey, we realize it is not that difficult! Witnessing is a giant rescue operation. It is a natural loving response toward someone who is in danger. If a boat is going down, and we have a lifeboat, we get out there and try to get as many people into our boat and save them as we can.

All of us, not just a few of us, need to get busy being faithful life-savers so we can make a difference in people’s lives! We must get busy leading people to the safety of Jesus Christ! It is all because God is Sovereign.

* Whom is God asking you to tell about His love?