I Remembered You, LORD
When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Jonah 2:7
The waters churn. Air bubbles are foaming from beneath. All of a sudden, we see that big, black mouth opening to swallow us whole! Fear grips us…and down we go!
Let’s be honest. We have all been a Jonah at one time or another. Perhaps we even thought that was our real name. He chose not to listen to God and found himself in a rather peculiar situation. Now whether you believe this story to have happened as Scripture says or you think it a great allegory, it doesn’t much matter because there a little bit of Jonah in all of us.
God specifically had a job for him to do. He was disobedient and, as a consequence, he spent three days in the belly of the largest mammal on earth. (A little foreshadowing of Someone else.) Wrapped in seaweed and surrounded by putrid smelling fish guts, Jonah finally realized that he had made a huge mistake. He thought he was going to die!
Haven’t we all felt that way when death looked like the only way out? Jonah cried out saying knew he had made a big mistake and he cried out to the LORD. Somehow God has a way of showing up at the very last minute to create an exit for us. Jonah’s was a little yucky, and I can only imagine that none of us have been vomited up on land by a friendly great fish. Nonetheless, God grabs our attention and shakes us a tad. We don’t easily forget what we experienced during those times in the whale’s belly, do we?
Most of us quickly come to the conclusion that it is much easier to obey His voice when He speaks. Even if it doesn’t make lots of sense, He will make His bidding known to us. It wasn’t that Jonah didn’t recognize God’s voice; he chose to ignore Him. He didn’t want to obey. Wow!
There aren’t that many whales left in the world today…but then again, one never knows.
Loving Lord, thank You for being present 100% of the time even though we wander off. Help us to listen to your words and become more obedient. AMEN.