Wednesday, January 30: Jonah 2- Never beyond God's rescue.

Jonah thought he could run and hide from God. No sir. The all-knowing, all-seeing God saw him and found him.

I tried to imagine what he was going through… tossed into the raging sea, sinking beneath the waves and then somehow swallowed by a large fish. Amazingly, Jonah found himself alive and safe inside the fish. I wonder if Jonah even understood his situation???

Three days he lived inside this fish. What those days must have been like. Honestly, I cannot even imagine.

From the belly of the fish Jonah prays. I suspect I might have prayed, too. However, I think I might’ve been praying, “God, get me out of here.”

Jonah understands the entire ordeal as God was saving him. He recognizes the gracious hand of the Lord. The portion of his prayer that caught my eye and heart was this: “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.… ’ ” (7-9a).

Jonah never gave up on God. He had sinned and he knew it. Still as his breath ebbed away he remembered the Lord and called to Him. God answered.

I pondered that. Even when we have sinned and are still living with the effects of our sin, God loves and cares for us. God hears our prayers and answers us. I don’t think we can say that God will always send a fish to rescue us; still He loves us and cares for us.

In Jonah’s case God had work left for him to do, so the fish was both a rescuer and a transport to his place of service.

I am surprised that in the midst of the prayer Jonah contemplates people who turn to idols rather than the Lord. Maybe that is the Spirit of God praying through Jonah preparing him for his assignment in Nineveh. Still that presence of mind is astonishing to me.  The recognition of those who turn to idols causes Jonah to affirm his grateful praise to the Lord, thus affirming his faith in the Lord.

Jonah reminds me that as God’s child we are never out of the reach of the Lord. And even when we blow it unintentionally or, like Jonah, intentionally disobey God, God will receive us back when we turn and cry out to Him. Another reminder in the story is that God has a mission for us to do. We might not be sent to a foreign land, but whatever it might be God knows what He is doing in calling us.

There’s so much in Jonah’s story… I’m kind of excited about tomorrow’s reading.

Lord, thank You for the adventure of Jonah and all we can learn from Your Word. Continue leading me in the adventure of faith. Where You send me I will go. And, Lord, if a balk at Your nudges, remind me of this prayer and my brother Jonah. Remind me that I cannot run away from Your call and will. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.