At some point, all of us are going to need a do-over. All of us are going to need a clean slate, a fresh start. That’s why Jonah 3 is good news for us! We get to see the heart of God and it’s the heart of a Father who tracks us down with a second chance in his hand!

In Chapter 2, we find Jonah in the worst place of his life, the stomach of a fish. It's in this place that he finally decides to reach out and pray to God. We learn through these 10 verses to quickly turn to God, that He hears us even when we pray imperfectly, and that every place we find ourselves has purpose.

Jonah begins his book by running away from what God told him to do. It takes him much further than he imagined and had more impact on those around him than he thought as sin always does in our lives. What Jonah finds in the midst of running away is a God of second chances and a God who provides a way back to Him.

If you don't have a clear picture of your destination, you are unlikely to get to the place you want to go. The same could be said for our walk with God. Often, we either have no vision or the wrong vision. However, when we live by God's Word and the guardrails He has placed around our lives, we are able to live the way God created us to live.

In the conclusion of our series on the Life of David, we look at what it takes to live a life that last beyond our own lives.

The Bible details at length the life and success of David, even calling him a man after God's own heart. But what if one of greatest lessons we could learn from his life came from failure and not success. David was not a man without mistake but rather a man who knew where to go when he failed. We can also develop this reflex to run to God in both good and challenging season of life.

David was anointed king but immediately went back to the field. On his way to the throne, he would learn lessons that prepared him to reign as king. Too often, we want to rush to the end product before learning what it takes to do what God has called us to. Learn how to be faithful where you are as He prepares you for where you are going.

In life, we will have times that feel like we're being pressed down. David was in a similar situation when he arrives at a town called Ziklag, which means "pressed down." Oftentimes, we want to run or ignore the situation, but David takes it before the Lord and "recovers all that was taken."

Often in life, our kindness is directly related to how well someone else has treated us. It's conditional and runs out. God's kindness is different than our kindness. David's treatment of Mephiboseth shows us how to show kindness when we have every reason not to show it. We see how God saw us in our brokenness and thought we could offer Him nothing, He still showed us His kindness through the blood of Jesus.

Sometimes we approach familiar biblical stories with the assumption that we know everything about it. David and Goliath is one of the most popular stories of the Bible. Let's revisit this familiar story and see what deeper things God would have in the passage.