MONDAY, JULY 23
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time,”
Jonah 3:1 NASB
A PERSONAL MESSAGE
Richard Armstrong, in Make Your Life Worthwhile, reports the story about a man in Wales who sought to win the affection of a certain lady for 42 years before she finally said “Yes.” The couple, both 74, recently became “Mr. and Mrs.” For more than 40 years, the persistent, but rather shy man slipped a weekly love letter under his neighbor’s door. But she continually refused to speak and mend the spat that had parted them many years before. After writing 2,184 love letters without ever getting a spoken or written answer, the single-hearted old man eventually summoned up enough courage to present himself in person. He knocked on the door of the reluctant lady’s house and asked for her hand. To his delight and surprise, she accepted.
Jonah 3:1 tells us that the “word of the Lord came to Jonah.” God had a specific message for Jonah because God loved Jonah and wanted to use Jonah. God is still a God who speaks to us personally and who wants to use us.
According to author Henry Blackaby, “God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer,
circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.” How has God most often spoken to you? What’s the last thing you think you clearly heard God say to you? How would you like to hear God speak to you more often? Pray and tell God that you are open and willing to hear from Him.
