Jonah – On Second Thought
Jonah has found himself in the belly of a fish at the bottom of the ocean. He tried to run away from God and God’s calling. God could have allowed him to run. He could have given up on Jonah. But, He didn’t. He had a plan for Jonah. He gave Jonah a chance to reconsider his ways. Jonah took advantage of the opportunity.
“Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly.” Jonah 2:1
As I mentioned in the previous post, sometimes God has to allow us to reach rock bottom so that we have no alternative but to call out to Him. That is exactly the case with Jonah. Jonah finally reached a point where he had no choice but to either call out to God or die. Jonah realized the error of his ways and began to pray to God. Jonah knew he could do nothing for himself at this point. That sometimes is hard for us to accept in life. We, as humans, are control freaks. We have trouble handing our lives over to God. We don’t like to trust others with things we hold dear. I have this problem. I don’t like to share with others when I need help. I feel like I am failing when I can’t handle things myself. God wants us to need him. That’s when we draw closest to Him.
“When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.” Jonah 2:7
Jonah finally reached his point of helplessness. He finally realized his need for God. That is a point we all need to reach in regards to salvation. We need to realize that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot work enough to deserve salvation. No matter how good we are, we are filthy in God’s eyes prior to the blood of Christ being applied. But, when we give our hearts and lives to God, and we are washed in the blood of Christ, God sees us as flawless children of His own. In verse 9 of chapter 2, Jonah closes his prayer with words that had to be music to God’s ears. He said, “Salvation is of the Lord.” Jonah finally understood his place in this world. It was to serve God willingly and unconditionally.
That is our job too. God doesn’t need our opinions, He doesn’t need our suggestions. He simply wants our willingness to serve. He knows we are not perfect. He doesn’t require perfection thank goodness. He just wants us.
According to the book of Jonah, immediately following the close of Jonah’s prayer, God forgave Jonah and brought him back.
“And the Lord spake unto the fish, and vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” Jonah 2:10
How comforting it is to know that God is in control of everything. He controls this world and everything in it, including the animals and nature. No matter how bad we mess things up, God is still in control. No matter how bad this world gets, God is still in control. I can’t imagine the feeling Jonah had when he realized that he was back on dry land. I am sure that he was thankful to God for allowing him an opportunity to try again. That is the mercy of God. To allow us the chance to be forgiven for our mistakes in life still be His child and be used by Him. God is good.