JONAH 2:1-10

SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2007

HOLD ON TO YOUR HOPE!

1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.
2 And he said:“ I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. “ Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice.
3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head.
6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God.
7 “ When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple.
8 “ Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”
10 So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Jonah 2:1-10 (NKJV)

Almost everyone who has ever attended Church or Sunday School knows the story of Jonah and the Whale. Many discussions have been held and many articles written about if this is a true story. My personal opinion is that if it is in the Bible, it is true. Probably the greatest reason some people do not accept this as a true story is that from the human viewpoint, it is impossible for it to take place. My response is that this is not a human’s story, it is God’s, and with God all things are possible.

The important thought for this devotion is found in the fourth verse, “I will look again.” When we are reading and thinking about Jonah being in the belly of the whale those days, we have a tendency to slide right past these words without seeing their importance. In this chapter Jonah is separated from God, he feels that he has been cast out of the presence of God. I encourage you to read this chapter again and as you do, make notes of the troubles that Jonah lists. It is almost as if he cries out, “Where are you God? I am in so much trouble; where are you?”

In the midst of all of this he speaks those words that are often not noticed, “I will look again.” How often have you spent far too much time looking for something that is not where you remember putting it? You look and look, but you can’t find it. Do you give up? No, even if you don’t have time right then, it won’t be long before you are looking again. You know that even if someone else moved it or the dog or cat took it to play with, you know that it has to be someplace, so you keep looking. This is exactly what Jonah is doing. God, I can’t see you, where are you? Jonah does not give up; he will look again and again and again. This is a sign of faith, a sign of belief just as real as knowing that you will find the object that disappeared.

When you find the lost object, you feel relief and go on with daily life. When Jonah realized that God was still there, everything changed, and we have the graphic description of the whale vomiting Jonah out of his mouth and onto the dry land.

Keep this part of the story of Jonah in your mind. The next time that everything seems to be going wrong, when you have no place to turn, when nobody understands you, remember Jonah and remember God is still there. No matter how bad things seem to be, never forget that God is still there, HOLD ON TO YOUR HOPE. Your HOPE is in Jesus.

WE PRAY. Dear Lord, when troubles surround me and press me down, when I have lost sight of You, help me to know that you are still there patiently waiting for me to turn to you. AMEN.

A SUGGESTION FOR LIVING THE DEVOTION

The next time you ask God for something and you feel He does not answer your prayer, remember the last time you lost your car keys. Did you give up looking and just let the car sit?