There’s nowhere He cannot find you

It’s been quite a series of events for Jonah. A word from God. Running away from that call. Contracting a boat to sail him far away. Getting caught in a storm and being thrown overboard.

Rough day(s).

Jonah has nowhere to go but down into the deep. He cannot be saved lest the storm picks back up. God’s will for Jonah’s message for Ninevah is as inescapable as Jonah’s fate here. Have you ever felt like you cannot escape the dark valley ahead? I know I have.

Prior to the pandemic, I was faced with the hard reality of my divorce. Do I tear my family apart and add my kids to the statistics of broken homes, or do I continue to enable the bad addiction that increasingly put them at risk? Either way, darkness and danger lay ahead.

It was in the basement of a church elder, in the dark of night, when I hit the ground and prayed. This wasn’t the first time I prayed about the situation and it wasn’t the last, but it certainly felt like the deepest point of despair. I was in my own belly of death.

In the last message, we left off with the encouragement that others may see Christ in you, through your dilemmas. Today, my hope is to remind you that He is there in the midst of your trials.

Keep your eyes on heavenly things

Whether your business appears to be failing, whether your relationship is at the point of breaking, or whether your faith is rocked. In all things, pursue Him.

Jonah prayed a psalm of thanksgiving in the belly of the fish. What?! Perhaps, he recognized that God could have chosen not to relent on His wrath and shipwrecked Jonah to die with the others. Perhaps, Jonah recognized God could have let him sink and drown. Perhaps, Jonah saw this fish for what it was… a liferaft.

Do not see your trials as a loss of anything other than the death of routines. In all things, thank God for the growth and strength you will gain. Praise Him in the storm. Pray to Him in the belly.

A long 3 days

Imagine being in the belly of a fish, after almost drowning, and the only thing worth recording was a psalm. What were Jonah’s thoughts as he was being swallowed? How dehydrated he must have been, surrounded by salt water.

My pastor recently spoke a powerful message about “not setting up camp in the valley.” We walk through valleys, but we shouldn’t plant roots in them.

Maybe you’ve been in the valley for 3 days or 3 years. Perhaps, you’ve been there so long that it’s almost more comfortable there to risk being happy again. The warmth of the light is worth the fear of leaving the shadows behind. If you cannot see your way out like Jonah, write out some praise to the Lord. If you cannot control your destination like Jonah, reach out to God to have you spit out on dry land, in the warm sun, again.

Prayer

“Lord Jesus, I believe You are with me in the depths. I know You are the light that drives out shadows. Fill me up with your Holy Spirit so that I may stand on the solid ground, on You, once again. Amen.”