How exciting it is to be able to proclaim God’s Love! Many of us say we’d go anywhere to share the Good News.
But what if God wants to us to deliver what seems to be bad news? Jonah the Prophet was faced with such a dilemma.
God told him to go to the city of Nineveh and preach against them because of their wickedness.
How would you feel if you were told to go up against a whole city of people already known to be evil? Would you worry about dying a very ugly death?
Jonah was definitely not up for confronting a city of evil people. He hopped a ship and tried to flee from God. But getting away from God is impossible.
God brought a great storm on the sea. After Jonah was identified as the object of God’s Anger, Jonah’s shipmates unceremoniously threw him overboard.
Jonah might have thinking about God’s Call to him, as he was calling out to God. And then, miracle of miracles, God sent a very unconventional taxi cab to pick Jonah up.
“Now The Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.”
Jonah 1:17
Would you see being swallowed by a big fish as a sign of God’s Provision? Consider the alternative! Drowning versus transportation to land?
What did Jonah do for those three days and nights? He repented and praised God for His Mercy.
Have you ever been in a bad place and your situation just seemed to get worse and worse? Did you spend your energies trying to fight your way out of where you were … or … did you follow God’s Way of dealing with crisis?
“Be still and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10
In the darkness of the belly of the fish, Jonah knew God was God and he was not. He learned to trust that God would save him from anything. And Jonah saw first hand God was able to work in creative ways He could never even imagine.
The rest of Psalm 46:10 says,
“I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Jonah understood what his part was to be in exalting The Lord to the nations. He would begin with Nineveh.
“And The Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
Jonah 2:10
Is there something The Lord has called you to do that you really don’t want to do? Take a moment and consider the real reason you don’t want to do it.
Whatever the obstacle, God can remove it. Whatever you need to get the job done, God will provide.
And if you’re in a dark place, know you have perhaps been brought there to see The Light!
Be still. Know that He is God!
