The second chance (Sheena Marx)

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Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”

Jonah 3:1-2 (NLT)

Jonah had made some big promises inside the fish and once back on dry land God takes him at his word. Go to Nineveh… I am sure Jonah hoped that God would have changed His mind and given him something else to do, but he was mistaken. God gives Jonah a second chance to do what He had originally asked him to do.

Where would we be if our patient loving God had not given you and me a second chance? Perhaps even now you have wandered a little ‘off course’ during lockdown. Come to God, not through your own merit but by His amazing grace and mercy. God never ‘writes us off’ as unusable because of our mistakes. Take heart! He still uses people like us to take part in building His kingdom. Nor does God wait for us to become perfect before He uses us, if He did I would have been disqualified years ago!

Tell God you are sorry and be restored, our God is the God of the second chance. Look at the stories of David, Elijah, Simon Peter to name but a few!

Do read the rest of Jonah its a challenging book!

A prayer: Father, you are the God of mercy and grace. Forgive us when we inevitably fail and restore us by your Holy Spirit. Amen

Sheena Marx

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