Fish Stories: Jonah’s Repentance – MOnday
Jonah 2:1
“From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.” (NIV84)
When I woke up that early morning, I was sunburned and had a terrible stomach ache. It’s not exactly what you might think. I was on the tail end of a short-term mission trip I helped lead with a group of high school students to Costa Rica. For the week we’d been there, we’d eaten healthy, home-cooked food. But on the last day, we went to the mall, and I ate a cheeseburger the size of my head. After that, we went to the beach for the afternoon, where I played hard in the surf and sand with very little sunscreen. The next morning, I wanted to have my stomach pumped and my skin bathed in aloe, but all I could do was sit there in the crowded van on the way to the airport and hope my condition improved quickly.
Jonah found himself in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of a great fish, knowing exactly why he was there. He’d run from God. He’d gone in the exact opposite direction God had called him to, and now he was stuck. I’m guessing he wanted a shower, some fresh air, and a good square meal, but all he could do was sit there and hope his condition improved.
It was at this point that Jonah prayed. Have you been there? You screwed up, and you were stuck. Maybe your first or fifth instinct was to pray, but you finally pray and give it all over to God. When those real, honest, and gut-wrenching prayers come out of us, there is usually something that begins to fill us. What fills us in those moments is peace. There is no magic wand that instantly fixes our circumstances, but the realization that God is with us and we will get through this is profound.
If you’d like to read the content of Jonah’s prayer, CLICK HERE. It wraps up with the rock-solid truth that, “Salvation comes from the Lord.”
Monday’s Reflection
Reflect on a time when you were desperate for God and He came near to you. As you reflect on this, thank Him again for His comfort and the salvation only He provides.
