Joseph, Joshua, Esther, Nehemiah, Paul, and Jonah were all raised up by God at various points in world history and were given specific assignments, specific tasks if you will. For instance, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. And years later when his brothers discovered who he was and they feared for their lives, Joseph spoke to them some of the most memorable words in Scripture. Genesis 50:20 Joseph said, "As for you, you meant evil against me," but here's the key, "but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." Joshua was chosen by God to be the successor of Moses and he was given the task of leading the children of Israel into the promised land and to take possession of the Promised Land. Israel, excuse me, Esther was chosen by God and placed in a very unique position, a position in which she was able to prevent the genocide of the Jewish people. Nehemiah, here's the cupbearer to the king. Again, a faithful Jewish man who was elevated to a position of prominence. He was a cupbearer but he was also chosen by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The apostle Paul was chosen by God to take the gospel to the Gentiles for which each one of us should be eternally grateful. And then there's Jonah. Jonah too was chosen by God for a very specific assignment and that was to go to Ninevah and to call out against it. In other words, he was to go to Ninevah and to call them to repentance.

Now, each one of these characters that I've mentioned this morning, they all have something in common. Despite having lived in different times, and some even in different countries, they all shared a common characteristic. Each one of them was chosen by God and had been given a specific task or an assignment to do. And each one of them did it. Now granted, some of them may have had some questions as to how and what God wanted them to do but they completed the assignment that God gave to them. But Jonah was just a little bit different. Jonah is the only one out of the list that I mentioned who just flat out refused to do what God asked him to do, what God assigned him to do if we want to look at it that way. And I think it's probably better to look at it that way. So Jonah is unique in that respect, but despite his initial refusal to do what God had given him to do, he ultimately fulfilled the call of God on his life. You know, unbelievers may read the Bible, they may read the story of Joseph or they may read the story of Esther, and look at the events of their lives and think, well, isn't that nice all that just happened to work out. Right? They think it was just random events, you know, this could have been any two people and it would have worked out the same for anybody. No, no, not at all.

As believers, we read the Scriptures through the lens of God's sovereignty. And as we read the Scriptures we understand that behind the public events and circumstances of the lives of the people that we read about in Scripture, we understand that the invisible hand of God is constantly at work directing those events and those circumstances for our good and for his glory. A favorite verse for many of us Christians is Romans 8:28 , "All things work together [for what?] for good." Now, do we have an illustration of that from any of the characters in Scripture? Well, my mind immediately goes to Joseph. Here was a guy who seemed like everything was going wrong, right? He has a dream, he gets a coat, he brags about his dream, he ends up in a pit, sold into slavery, gets a promotion over Potiphar's household, gets lied on, thrown in a prison, interprets some dreams, promised to get out, gets forgotten, eventually gets out, becomes the Prime Minister of Egypt. Was he just lucky? Was he unlucky at the start of his life and all sudden he got lucky? No, behind the scenes God was at work and every step of his life and ultimately he worked it out for good.

Listen, as believers, we need to understand and come to grips with the reality: yes, others will hurt you. You may have had some terrible experience in the past from other Christians. I have, I'll be the first to admit that. You may have been hurt in ministry. I have, I'll be the first to admit that. How do you deal with that? How do you deal with that? How do you cope with that? By believing that all things work together for good, by believing Romans 8:28 . That's how you deal with the hurts and the pains, the mistreatment, the problems of life. But what about our own sin and rebellion? Let's use Jonah for an example. Did Jonah's sin, Jonah's rebellion, did it derail God's plan? Not at all. And so I think sometimes we think to ourselves, well, you know, I have messed up so badly here that I have messed up God's plan. Listen, God is not going to let your sin mess up his plan. That's not a license to keep on sinning. But the reality is God will accomplish His purposes, even through sinning people at times. And the book of Jonah shows us how God's will is accomplished despite the sin and the rebellion of his creation. And as you read the Bible, please read it with the understanding that what you are reading is the unfolding plan and purpose of eternal God.

Let's be honest as well, at times it is ugly. Sometimes it's very, very ugly. And yes, sometimes from our limited understanding there are questions that arise that we simply cannot answer. Sometimes for in our limited understanding, things can be quite confusing. There are things that we simply don't understand. There are times when we read, like the book of Judges, it seems as if it's all chaos and there's no rhyme or reason to it at all. But even in all of these ugly circumstances, even in the midst of what appears to be chaos to us, God is working. He works both directly and indirectly to bring about his plans and his purposes. There are two ways that God works. God works directly. For instance, God said "Let there be light" and there was what? There was light. There are other times where God works indirectly. Some people would say he works through indirect means or secondary causes, secondary means, meaning that he can use the actions of other people in order to bring about his will. And we see that in the life of Jonah. Were there any people in the life of Jonah that God used to bring about his will? Well, how about a boat full of sailors? How about those old boys that picked him up and threw him overboard? Whether they realize it or not they were helping to carry out God's plan and God's purposes. So each one of the characters I've mentioned this morning were destined to do what they did. So I wonder about you. Do you have a conscious sense of God's destiny for you? Have you ever stopped and considered that like Joseph, or Joshua, or Esther, or Nehemiah, or Paul, and yes, even Jonah, that you are destined to do something for God?

I don't know how many of you watched the television series a few years ago, Lost. I thought it was a great show until the last episode then I thought it was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen in my life. But anyway, I've recently started watching it again. And I noticed something this time that in the first few episodes, they have these repeated flashbacks into the lives of the main characters. In other words, they have these... if you're not familiar with the premise of Lost, let me give you the Cliff Notes version. These people board a plane in Australia and it crashes on some island somewhere in the South Pacific. And nobody knows where they're at, okay. Hence the term "Lost". Brilliant, I know brilliant. But they use these flashbacks to show how these different people ended up on this plane. And there was one character by the name of John Locke. He's kind of a creepy character. And in his flashback, they first showed him as kind of like a middle manager at some company and he was into these war games and he called himself Colonel and he had a code name like Colonel, you know. And then in another flashback, they showed him in Australia where he was going to go on something called a walkabout and apparently a walkabout is some kind of spiritual experience where you connect with the land. And so in this flashback, John Locke is in the, looks like a travel agent's office, and he's arguing with the walkabout guide that he needs to go on this walkabout. And the guide's saying, no, you can't go and John Locke's saying listen, I paid my money I've got to go on this walkabout, I've got to go. And the guy keeps saying no, you can't go, you can't go. And finally, the guide walks out the door and he gets on the bus and John Locke is screaming, I've got to go, I've got to go on this walkabout and about that time the camera pulls back and John Locke is in a wheelchair. And John Locke screams I've got to go, I've got to go, this is my destiny.

Joe and Ben and I were talking about Ulysses S. Grant the other day. Ulysses S. Grant, you may or may not know, was the 18th President of the United States. You may or may not know that he was also a very successful general during the World [Civil] War. Something else you may or may not know is that before the war Ulysses S. Grant was a total flop in life. Even after the war, yes, he became president but after that, he again was a total flop in life. We would call him the Charlie Brown of the 1800s. I mean, this guy couldn't get anything, right. But there's one thing that he was good at and that was a military genius. We might say that was his destiny. He was destined to do that. So I ask you again, do you have a conscious, conscious sense of God's destiny for your life? God did not save you to be a lump on a log. God didn't save you to be a person in a pew. God saved you to be like an Esther for such a time as this. And a sense of destiny, of God's calling on your life, is a tremendously motivating factor. And granted you and I may not be destined for the spiritual fame of a Joshua or Joseph or Paul or David or somebo