Jonah has been running in disobedience. God sent a big storm, the sailors panicked, Jonah is
thrown overboard. All seems lost…but God has a few more things planned. God appoints a
great fish to swallow Jonah.
You may ask, “Why is God doing this to him?” Isn’t the storm and this terrible swim enough?
Jonah did seem to come to his senses, he confesses what he knows to the sailors. God has
Jonah in the belly of a huge fish. Can you imagine? God is bringing Jonah back. God is not being
mean, he is showing mercy. The same thing has happened to some of us; God is getting our
attention.
Here is a universal truth, one that Jonah learned that day:
It’s never too late to pray.
We are no different. When we find ourselves in the toughest positions, the most difficult of
times, then we pray. Some of you are facing that kind of trouble right now. Just like
Jonah—maybe the circumstances of your life have caused you to stop running and pay
attention to God. Sometimes it doesn’t really matter what you may believe about God— but
the strain of the situation causes us to cry out to God. God will always hear the cries of his
children.
God will always hear us, because he always loves us. The miracle of prayer is not that
we can talk to God— it’s that God is listening to us! If you feel like you are running away from
God— you need to know today that God is listening, and he does hear you- Even in the depth of
your pain.
Sometimes in my life, I’ve run away from God, and I’ve gotten myself into some deep pits. I
never was swallowed by a fish, but I know that no matter how lost I felt, God’s grace was there
for me—All I had to do was ask for it. Jonah had done a lot of “going down”. He went down,
down, down— To the roots of the mountains. That’s pretty low. As low as he got in the belly of
a fish, he prays to God—and he starts to look up! He repents to God and renews his promise,
and states that he will do what God told him to do!
God’s love never fails us— but his discipline always has a purpose. Remember, Jonah did stay
in that fish for three days and three nights!
Jonah’s story is here to remind us that God is not paying you back— he’s bringing you back.
Sometimes that is the only way we can grow. Praise God that He gives second chances.
God commands that fish— to spit him back out onto the shore. Who knows how that could
happen, but it did. Jonah is alive.
Our God is the God of multiple chances!
We don’t take advantage of that.
No matter how deep you may end up— He still has a plan and a purpose for
your life. Because he loves you.
Run back to God today. Don’t wait.