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. There, Jonah was to warn the people of God’s impending judgment and urge them to repent.

Jonah, being a Hebrew, hated the people of Nineveh, so he fled in the opposite direction, hoping for a different word from God (perhaps punishment for Nineveh). So God spoke to Jonah again, with the same message as before. Since Jonah had been been buffeted by storms and had traveled in the stomach of a fish since the first message, he was now ready to do God’s bidding!

Similarly, what God says to us next can depend on how we responded to His previous word to us. If, like Jonah, we disobeyed His earlier instructions, God may give them a second time.

So 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 wise, and properly respond to the your Lord’s instructions the first time.

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” (Jonah 3:1)

(from Experiencing God Day by Day)