Second TIme Around

                We have heard of sayings about second time. These are some:

·         “There’s always a second time”

·         “Love is sweeter the second time around.”

·         “God gives second chances.”

These sayings seem to be so comforting to hear especially when we fail from doing something; that a second chance of winning awaits us. But would it be more fulfilling that on our first encounter with a task it will be of success. I do believe that we are destined to win. Second is mediocrity; lukewarm; lesser priority. If we can be first then why be complacent with being a second?

God gives us assignments and it’s up for us how to respond. There are even times when His commands seem to be illogical or we even have to get out of our comfort zones to perform the task. But the reality is, it’s not about how comfortable we will be. It’s God’s command; no other options but to obey it and we will eventually reap the reward. On the other hand, we also have the choice not to follow but we will also reap our reward. We just have to remember that “What we sow is what we reap.”

          In the Bible, we can find two incidents when God spoke for the second time. He spoke the second time to two of the prominent persons in the Bible but they have different responses as to God’s speaking to them. These two are Jonah and Jeremiah.

In Jonah 3:1, it says, “Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” Jeremiah 33:1a says, “Moreover the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time…”

The story of the two is not uncommon to all of us but for the sake of our better understanding, let’s have a short recap of the story of these two persons as to how God spoke to them the second time and let’s see their responses and the effects of it.

Jonah didn’t like the assignment God gave him. God directed him to leave his homeland and go to the enemy city of Nineveh, a hostile and evil center of idol worship (Jonah 1:1-2). There Jonah was to warn the people of God’s impending judgment and urge them to repent. The Hebrews hated the people of Nineveh, so the rebellious prophet fled in opposite direction, hoping for a different word from God that was more to his liking (Jonah 1:3). Instead, God was determined to His Word to Jonah would be obeyed (Isaiah 55:11). He spoke to Jonah again. His second message was the same as the first (Jonah 3:1-2). However, during the interval, Jonah had been buffeted by storms (Jonah 1:4-16) and travelled in the stomach of a fish for three days (Jonah 1:17). This time, he was prepared to hear God again and do his bidding (Jonah 2:1-10).

God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah two times (Jeremiah 33:1-3). But Jeremiah accepted God’s Word to him the first time. The second time God spoke to him was to give him a fuller revelation of what He had first told him. In Jeremiah 33:3 it says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” (cf Isaiah 48:6) God promised Jeremiah that if he would call to Him, not only would He answer Him but He would reveal to him “great and mighty things” that could not otherwise be known. The word “mighty” (Hebrew batsar)is better rendered “isolated” or “inaccessible.” The suggestion is that God would give Jeremiah “revelational insight,” revealing things that otherwise would be inaccessible or isolated.

Such “revelational insight” always has been essential for a clear understanding of victorious spiritual warfare. One cannot pray effectively without insight into how to pray, as well as in to what things God truly longs for us to seek after in prayer. That is the reason why we need to ask for God’s wisdom in everything because our wisdom is finite (Proverbs 3:5-6).

To further look into the importance of “revelational insight”, let’s go over 2Kings 6:8-17. To believe the impossible one must first see the invisible – the lesson Elisha taught his servant. The text involves war between Israel and Syria, and the prophet Elisha’s informing his people of the enemy’s tactics through prophetic insight (v.12). Here is the lesson: Prayer is the key to discerning our adversary’s strategems. Further, the key to dispelling Elisha’s servant’s panic was his vision being opened to see the invisible. Note, this crucial words : “Elisha prayed”! Elisha did not ask God simply to show the servant another miracle; he asked for his servant to see into another dimension. The answer came immediately: “The Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.” (v.17). Seeing into  the invisible is the key to victorious praying – discerning spiritual issues from God’s perspective rather than man’s, seeing the adversary’s attack plan, and perceiving God’s angelic strike-force.

This answer to Elisha’s prayer is the same thing as the “great and mighty things” that god promised to Jeremiah when he will call upon Him.

 What God says to us next will depend on how we responded to His previous word to us. If, like Jonah, we disobeyed His earlier instructions, God will give them a second time. If we obeyed his first directive, as Jeremiah did, He will give us a fresh and deeper expression of His will (Matthew 25:23).

If you have not received a fresh word from God, return to the last thing God told you and examine your obedience. Is the Lord still waiting for your obedience? Seek to be like Jeremiah, and properly respond to your Lord’s instructions the first time.