Jonah 1 & 2
This is the story of Jonah. God called Jonah to preach in Nineveh, a city whose people were notorious for being very cruel and heartless, and Israel had experienced some of this cruelty. So Jonah, knowing how kind and forgiving God is, didn't want these people to repent and be forgiven, he wanted God to destroy them, as they deserved. So he headed off in the opposite direction.
So God caused a great storm on the sea to push Jonah back into obedience, and all the sailors prayed to their own gods to give them relief. Jonah admitted that the storm was his fault, because he was running from the Lord, and to throw him overboard. They didn't want to do that, but they finally relented, so they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.
When the Lord God Who made the sea and the land instantly calmed the raging sea, they realized that He was much greater than any of their gods. Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
Even Truth proclaimed in the confession of an angry and bitter servant can be used by God. He really is sovereign and will perform His will, in spite of our rebellion.
But God wasn't finished with Jonah. He had a big fish (not a whale) swallow him so he wouldn't drown. I've seen pictures of other men who had been swallowed whole by big fish, and its digestive juices would have bleached both his skin and his hair into a deathly white. God even used the fish for His purposes. No wonder he had such a dramatic effect on the Ninevites; his appearance added to the message of his words would be needed to push these coarse and jaded people into repentance.
Jonah thought this must be the end of him, and prayed to the Lord from inside the fish.
Then God miraculously had the fish vomit him out onto dry land, instead of at the bottom of the sea. If I was a fish with an upset stomach, I would get sick where I'd be most comfortable, at the bottom of the sea. But not this fish. And Jonah took off running!
I am amazed at how God will do with His servants, His children, to have them carry out what He wants done. I've realized that most of His blessings in this World have human fingerprints on them, and I look back and notice that my own fingerprints have been on some of His blessings to others. God wants us to obey Him willingly, but even if we turn our backs on Him and run in the opposite direction, He is still sovereign and will do what He wants with us.
Sometimes He must do to us and then in us in order to work through us to others. Just as He did to Jonah in being eaten by a fish, then in him turning back to God and praying for deliverance from death; then He worked through him to show the Ninevites His power and greatness and mercy on even the most egregious of sinners.
O my Father, I praise You for Your greatness and power to do whatever You want with what You have made. You use our choices, that we make freely within Your parameters, whether in obedience or disobedience, You use anyway to accomplish Your will. In Your Love and generosity, you have made it so that no matter what we choose, You will still do what You have determined ahead of time.
Help me, Father, to always obey You in my choices, always decide to follow Your guidelines in all my ways, so that You will work in and through me more than You do to me to turn me back around. I want Your blessings to flow through me to others unhindered. But more than Your gifts, I want to know You, I want to love You because You have loved me first. I want the Giver more than the gift, I want the Blessor more than the blessings.
I want the fragrance of Christ in me to draw others into that circle of Your family. I want Your presence in Me to be seen and known among those who are still of the World, to pull them out of that bondage and darkness into Your glorious freedom and light.
Father, keep me firmly in Your hand, to think Your thoughts not my own, say Your words not my own, walk in Your ways not my own.
Draw me ever closer to Yourself, Father, so that You can use me to draw others closer to You also.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
