Could you use a second chance? There is nothing quite like a second chance. Maybe you will hear God offering you a second chance today, just like he gave one to Jonah. If you have been reading along over the last few weeks, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and call them to repentance. Jonah said no and ran in the opposite direction from God. The people of Nineveh were cruel and violent. Jonah didn’t want them to have a second chance. He wanted to see God judge the people of Nineveh and give them what they deserved. So Jonah disobeyed God and hopped a ship in the opposite direction. God chased Jonah down with a storm until the sailors threw him overboard. Jonah sank to the bottom of the ocean thinking the end was near. As he was drowning, Jonah cried out to God for help. Finally, Jonah found grace and salvation in the belly of a great fish. The belly of the fish is somewhat compared to a womb and a tomb. It is a place where Jonah dies to himself, and is reborn to God. Eventually the fish spits Jonah back out on dry land.
Once Jonah is back on dry land, we are confronted with the words of Jonah 3: “Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time” (Jonah 3:1). Did you see that? The word of the Lord came to Jonah “A SECOND TIME!” God’s word came to Jonah again. God gave Jonah another chance to obey. The guy who ran away from God was given a second chance. The guy who didn’t deserve to ever hear from God again, heard from God again. There are a lot of people who will never give you a second chance. They will never forgive you and will hold a grudge against you forever. Aren’t you glad that God is not like that? Some of you may think he is, but He is not. I know that God has come to me over and over giving me more and more chances when I have messed up.
Maybe you need God to come to you again and give you a second chance. Maybe you are a Christian and you have gotten off center. Perhaps you have been headed in the wrong direction and are filled with guilt and regret. Some of you have never surrendered your life to Christ, but He has spoken to your heart in the past. You have said no time and time again through the years. Guess what? God is coming to you again. The word of the Lord is coming to you again. God will give you another chance to say “Yes.” God will give you another chance to obey if you have disobeyed. He will not quit on you. He will not give up.
I look back in my life and realize how God kept coming to me at different stages in my life. In high school, there were moments God was speaking to me and yet I wasn’t ready to give my life to him. My senior year in high school, my brother died in a car accident. The Lord truly revealed himself to me, but I wasn’t ready to really say yes to Him. During my freshman year in college, God got my attention several times, but I still resisted him. Finally during my sophomore year at UGA, the word of God came to me again. Jesus reached out to me once more and I said yes. Oh, I praise God that I got a second chance. I am so grateful he didn’t quit on me and give up on me.
Do you need a second chance, a third chance, or more? Our God is the God of “another chance.” Jonah knows from experience, and so do I. You can be forgiven. You can have a fresh start with God. You can have a second chance by God’s grace. And that’s the Word.
