2 Samuel 21:1(NKJV) Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
David inquired from the Lord to understand why they are going through a famine. The Lord did not turn a deaf ear to David’s inquiry. God told David that Israel was suffering because of Saul.
Sin can be defined as rebellion against God or running away from His divine purpose.
Isaiah 59:1-2(MSG) Look! Listen! GOD’s arm is not amputated – he can still save. GOD’s ears are not stopped up – he can still hear. There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear.
Psalm 66:18(ERV) If I had been hiding sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened to me.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they plunged the whole human race into sin. But God didn’t change; God didn’t move; God didn’t leave; He still came looking for them.
Genesis 3:8-10(KJV) And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Adam and Eve’s sins have separated them from God. They have recognised their sinful *-condition, and they have tried to hide it. But God’s gracious, unmerited favour never gave up on them. He came looking for them. He called out to them. God is calling out to you. Won’t you hear the voice of the LORD God calling you?
John 3:16-21(MSG) This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”
You cannot escape God. There is no way you can get away from God. God’s right hand is holding you every moment of every day. There is no way you can ever be separated from this everywhere-ness of God. When we have the mindset that our sins separate us from God, we will feel separated from God when we sin. God is everywhere.
Jonah 3:10(TLB) And when God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he abandoned his plan to destroy them and didn’t carry it through.
Jonah 4:2(TLB) He complained to the Lord about it: “This is exactly what I thought you’d do, Lord, when I was there in my own country and you first told me to come here. That’s why I ran away to Tarshish. For I knew you were a gracious God, merciful, slow to get angry, and full of kindness; I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people.”
God had every right to destroy Nineveh because of their sins. God had every right to destroy Jonah for his unfaithfulness towards God. However, God spared them both because of His love for them. God granted forgiveness because of love.
Romans 10:13(TLB) Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.