Month: December 2018

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Jonah 1:17 I recently had a bad day. My back hurt, I didn’t sleep well, and when my family stopped for breakfast at the gas station, I lost my wallet. I didn’t discover this until later, when I was getting a carwash, during which I…
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Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you . . . Jonah 1:12 Whenever I’ve struggled with some self-destructive behavior, I’ve known what I needed to do to change long before I was willing to do it. This is not uncommon for the addict who knows he…
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I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Jonah 1:9 I’m always a little surprised when I hear someone insist that if you learn the right things, it will necessarily translate into right behavior. Life just doesn’t work that way for me. Many…
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But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. Jonah 1:5 Most of us who have known addiction, have learned to scheme, hide, and lie, convincing ourselves that we can get away with behavior that we know should lead to severe consequences. Enslaved to…
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The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea . . . Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. Jonah 1:4-5 It is not uncommon to see men in jail come to Bible study, only to leave God at the door when released. With lives in crisis, they cling to God…
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Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah 1:3 Anyone who knows me well has been frustrated by the reality that if I don’t want to do something, I’m probably not going to do it simply because I should. Likewise if I want to do something, even though it may…
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As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. Obadiah 1:15 Whenever I have caused my own misery, I have always cried out to God to get me out of my mess. I’ve even thought it was a little unfair that I was in the mess in…
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But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune . . . Obadiah 1:12 I go to a gym where competition is an inherent part of the experience. One doesn’t need to compete to be there, but my buddies and I enjoy trying to outdo one another. Unfortunately, my…
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In that day I will restore David’s fallen shelter – I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins – and will rebuild it as it used to be . . . Amos 9:11 (NIV) The worst part of my addiction – worse than alienating my family and losing my job – was that I…
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If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Amos 9:2 Enslaved to his self-destructive appetite, the addict tells himself various lies to justify his behavior. In my own addiction, every time I relapsed, I convinced myself that this time,…
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