CURRENT THEME: New hope for 2013 (Share your feedback with us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or share your testimony at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

DAY 27: ARE YOU A JOB OR A JONAH?

By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

Most spiritual messages we read reminds us that God is sovereign, that He is with us in tough times and that He will never leave nor forsake us. We can, therefore, without a doubt know that He is faithful at all times.

My question to you today however is: Are you faithful to Him? Can God count on you to take a stand for Him - even if you are standing alone in your workplace, your family, your country or community? Is your quiet time with Him a priority in your life or the first thing you neglect when your diary is filled up with appointments? Do you keep on praising Him in tough times like Job or do you start to blame Him for your losses? And, are you obedient to go and share the gospel message with the most dangerous, unreached group of people if God leads you to do it, or will you back out like Jonah?

In short: How reliable are you to God? Job did not know the enemy asked God’s permission to test him. Neither that the eyes of heaven’s army were upon him to see how he will respond in the midst of his loss. Yet Job never turned his back on God. He proved himself to be faithful. Jonah, on the other hand, took the first chance he got to flee away from Nineveh when he got onto a boat to Tarsus.

The sincerity of our love for God and our relationship with Him are tested in the way we deal with challenges in our lives. In 1 Corinthians 4:1-4 we read: “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. . .My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.”

Also in 2 Timothy 4:7-8 Paul reminds us about the value of staying faithful to God to the end: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

If your faithfulness gets tested today, will you withstand the test like Job or will you flee like Jonah and turn your back on God? Let's make sure that we stay reliable. After all, where would we be if God was not reliable? God bless.
Father God, thank You for Your faithfulness to me. Forgive me where I have disappointed you in the past like Jonah, turned my back on you. Strengthen me through Your Holy Spirit to stay faithful at all times. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

** Benescke Janse van Rensburg is a radio DJ, freelance journalist and author of the books, Ontdek God in die stories van mense, Wysheid-oordenkings uit Spreuke and Hoop in tye van nood-oordenkings uit Psalms. Visit website: www.benescke.co.za for more information.