[D-fendr]

I think its a bit persumptious to think we can say no to God.

People do it every day, you likely included, all over the world.

[HarleyD]

People do it every day (sic: say no to God), you likely included, all over the world.

Sure. Unbelievers say no constantly to the gospel call or anything that would please God. They will NEVER say yes unless God intervenes. This is what David states when he say,

Psa 14:3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Believers, like Jonah and most certainly like me, say no to God as well. The difference with believers is God, like the gracious and loving Father that He is, brings believers around to His way of thinking-even if it means casting us into the belly of a fish for a time.

The Lord shepherds us. He WILL use that rod and staff to guide us to green pastures. He leads us where we should go and restores us for His righteousness sake-not ours. Does this sound the least bit familiar? It's Psalms 23.

Believers are a stiff-neck people who are bent on following their own sin nature. And left to our own devices we would degenerate into the wickedness of the world. Ever served on a staff to pick out carpeting for the church? God guides us past that to work His will. There is no greater evidence in scripture of this than Jonah.