How can you sleep at night?

     Have you ever asked anyone this question?  Usually the question comes after we have heard about someone else's unwise, unsafe, or immoral behavior.  We ask this question because we think about how our conscience would drive us crazy if we were living the way the other person was.
     But even though we hear God speaking to us by his Spirit (which we call our conscience), we can easily choose to ignore it.  When we consistently choose to ignore God's voice, it can become as if we don't even hear it at all.  God's word gives us the picture of our conscience being "seared with a hot iron."
     We see an interesting picture of this in the story of Jonah.  Jonah was a prophet.  Which means his calling was to hear from God and deliver his messages to others.  Normally, the Israelite prophets delivered messages to God's people: the Israelites.  One day God gives Jonah a different assignment: deliver a message of repentance to the pagan people of Nineveh.
     Jonah hates the idea of pagan people getting the chance to repent.  He thinks they deserve punishment.  So instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah gets in a boat and goes the opposite direction.  He says he was trying to run away from God.  When I read this story, I think to myself, "Silly Jonah, everyone knows you can't run away from God."  But then I realize how often I am guilty of the same faulty thinking.  "God won't see this."  "God won't know about this."  "God won't care about this."
     While they are on the boat a violent storm hits them and they are all fearful that they are going to die.  Everyone except Jonah, that is.  He is down in the boat sleeping!  Jonah is clearing disobeying God, his life is being threatened, and he is sleeping peacefully.
     Jonah: the great prophet has so hardened his heart against God that he seems completely comfortable in his rebellion and defiance!
     Unfortunately, it can be so easy for us to see this in other people's lives but at the same time totally miss it in our own lives.  We can be living in direct rebellion to God's word and yet be so seemingly comfortable in our lifestyle.  The reason we seem so comfortable is that we have ignore God's voice for so long that it is almost as if we don't hear it any more.  This is such a dangerous place to be!  I know because I have been there!
     The only way you and I get of that dangerous place is an unpopular word called "Repentance."  Repentance means that we have such a change of heart that we turn 180 degrees from our sin and head in the opposite direction.  Repentance is not a one time thing.  It is the lifestyle of a follower of Christ.  I have to daily turn from my sin to follow Christ.
     The reason why I am so challenged by this story is that I don't want to have to be swallowed by a fish like Jonah in order for God to get my attention. (I will speak more about this in tomorrow's blog.)
     Today, I repent.  Today, I turn away from my sin.  Today, I refuse to ignore God's voice.