I mentioned a couple of entries ago how I was going through a rough stretch of life problems, and all the emotional and mental depression and stress that goes with the territory. Spiritually, I felt adrift. Neither here nor there, just an arid-ness of my heart. We've all been there. But God.....
Along in my reading comes Jonah. Prophet of God. The Lord actually spoke to Him! Can't get much better than that right? But Jonah wanted no part of God's message, no part of delivering it to people he believed were completely undeserving of God's mercy...so he ran. His disobedience did not end well for Jonah.
We all go through hard things in life, feel overwhelmed and drowning in our problems, but I feel pretty safe in assuming most of us have not gotten as far down as being in the belly of a whale. Picture this. Dark. Stinky. Surrounded by fish guts. Twisted up with seaweed. Slimy. Claustrophobic. Ugh!! When we are really going through life's wringer, we can feel like that...it's dark, we can't see hope. It's claustrophobic, our problems seem to close in around us, tightening and tightening.
Jonah's predicament was caused by willful disobedience. Sometimes ours are too, sometimes not. But it was Jonah's prayer while he was in the terrible place that spoke to my heart.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. 2 He said,
“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble,
and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead,
and Lord, you heard me!
3 You threw me into the ocean depths,
and I sank down to the heart of the sea.
The mighty waters engulfed me;
I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
4 Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence.
Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’
5 “I sank beneath the waves,
and the waters closed over me.
Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
I was imprisoned in the earth,
whose gates lock shut forever.
But you, O Lord my God,
snatched me from the jaws of death!
7 As my life was slipping away,
I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
in your holy Temple.
8 Those who worship false gods
turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
and I will fulfill all my vows.
For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”
Jonah had been disobedient. He had run from God's will. We've all been there. But his focus while under God's discipline was not on his failures, not on his circumstances, but on the One who could deliver. He turned his heart to God. He didn't see his utter unworthiness as an obstacle to God's deliverance. And neither should we. We are never too far away or too deep under for our Father to reach us.
Lord, our lives sometimes feel like we are in the belly of a whale. Problems oppressive, unrelenting, hopeless. But we can believe that if You heard Jonah from the depth of the seas, You can hear us when we cry out to You. You delivered Jonah and You will deliver us. Just like Jonah, we may not like or agree with Your command, but give us the strength and the will to obey anyway. It's in obedience that we find peace and strength to face whatever life hurls our way, in obedience that we find the heart and will to turn from our sins, and in obedience that we find a place of safety in Your arms. Thank You for the examples in Your Word that we can learn and draw encouragement from. I'm so grateful to hear of Your love in this way.
Second Scripture on my index card: Psalm 119:35 Make me walk along the path of Your commands, for that is where my happiness is found. Make this Your prayer this day.
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