Jonah 3:1:
“Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time…”
God instructed Prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against its wickedness.
Jonah decided otherwise.
Instead of going to Nineveh, he boarded a ship travelling in the opposite direction, as though it were possible to run away from God.
One storm, several terrified sailors, a trip into the sea and three days inside a great fish later, Jonah prayed and turned back to God. Then God spoke to him again.
Same God. Same Jonah. Same assignment.
A second chance.
But then there is 1 Kings 13.
God sent a man of God from Judah to confront King Jeroboam at Bethel. He was also given clear instructions:
Do not eat bread. Do not drink water. Do not return by the same road.
Initially, he obeyed. He delivered God’s message, refused the king’s invitation to eat and took a different road home.
Then an older prophet met him.
The older prophet claimed that an angel had instructed him to bring the man of God home for a meal.
The Bible adds an important detail: He was lying.
Unfortunately, the man of God believed him. He returned to Bethel and ate at his house, directly disobeying the instruction God had given him.
On his way home, a lion met him on the road and killed him. He did not get another opportunity to correct his mistake.
The scary thing about life is that you do not know whether your story will resemble Jonah’s or that of the man of God from Judah.
We love to say that God is a God of second chances. And He is.
We see it in the lives of Jonah, King David and Apostle Peter.
However, the Bible also records people whose disobedience was followed by immediate judgement:
Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10. Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6. Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.
They were not given the opportunity to undo that particular action.
A second chance is mercy.
It is not an entitlement.
You cannot deliberately ignore what is right today because you assume you will have another opportunity tomorrow.
Tomorrow is not guaranteed.
There is another uncomfortable lesson in the story of the man of God.
The person who deceived him survived. The older prophet lived long enough to collect his body and bury him.
People may advise you wrongly and continue with their lives, while you bear the consequences of following their advice.
This is why you cannot outsource responsibility for your decisions.
Age does not automatically make someone right.
Experience does not automatically make someone right.
Advice must still be tested against what you know to be true.
This lesson applies beyond faith.
Apply for the opportunity while it is available. Apologise while the relationship can still be repaired. Take your health seriously before the warning becomes an emergency. Start the business, course or project you keep postponing.
Do not build your life around the assumption that there will always be another chance.
If you have received a second chance, be grateful and use it well.
If you are still facing your first opportunity, treat it as though a second one may never come.
What are you postponing today because you assume you will get another chance tomorrow?
Have a great weekend.
