When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Jonah 2:7
I wanted to stay with Jonah this week because there is so much that we can glean from his story. Running from God is never productive and the reality for Jonah was that instead of bringing blessing to those around him, he brought disaster. From the moment he rejected God’s direction, his life was literally on a downward spiral – he went down to Joppa, he went down into the inner part of the ship, he went down into the sea and down into the belly of the great fish.
Not following God’s will has consequences, and for Jonah it was a place he could never have imagined. He didn’t need to ask, ‘how did I get here?’ because he knew all too well, and the reality of his actions was too much to bear.
I am driven away from your sight… The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me… I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. Jonah 2:3-5
This is the reality of life outside the presence of God – the walls of darkness close in as sin wraps itself around us, pulling us farther down. The good news is, no matter how far we fall (or sink), we are never too far away for God to hear us. Jonah was very much aware of his sin and of the hopeless state that he was now in, but he also remembered the mercy of God. So, from the belly of the fish he cried out and his prayer reached the throne room of God. In the deep waters of despair, Jonah experienced the depth of God’s grace.
I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord! Jonah 2:9
The Lord hears our cries for mercy when they come from a sincere heart and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel2). As we can see from the life of Jonah, we still need the Saviour on a daily basis. As Christians, we may have been saved from the judgement of sin, but we are continually being saved from its power.
Whatever situation you find yourself in, call out to God and let His grace find you.
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