Monday meditation: We can identify with the pit Jonah experienced
Is there a fish actually large enough to swallow a man?
Experts have given us a simple answer: “Yes.” In fact, sperm whales can grow as long as 80 feet and have been found to contain whole sharks or a 220-pound ball of garbage, undigested, in their massive stomachs. And they’re known for their vomit; they have spewed objects wider than a man’s shoulder.
But even if we take the fantastic story of Jonah 1 and 2 as fact, we’re still left to wonder why it’s in the Bible and what God may want us to take from it.
To help us, many have drawn lessons from this brief book about the peril of disobeying God and the redemption he offers to those who repent. Here’s one more connection, especially for caregivers: Caregivers can identify with Jonah’s prayer from deep inside the fish’s dark and disgusting stomach. Several examples:
Which of us has not also called to the Lord in distress? (Jonah 2: 1).
Which of us has not at least sometimes felt overwhelmed, as if we were “deep in the realm of the dead . . . hurled . . . into the depths,” with “waves and breakers” sweeping over us? (vv. 2, 3).
Which of us has not asked God to rescue us from the “pit”?
Which of us has not watched the life of our loved one ebbing away and feared our own life was disintegrating too? (vv. 6, 7).
Jonah’s prayer leaves no doubt about whether God had his attention! He knew he was being punished for his overt, outright disobedience. Like any other prodigal in crisis because of his bad choices, Jonah promised to worship and serve devoutly if he ever saw daylight again (vv. 7-9).
Like any other prodigal in crisis, Jonah promised to worship and serve.
So God caused the fish to spew Jonah onto dry ground. When he told Jonah again to confront the sinful city of Nineveh, Jonah obeyed (Jonah 3).
Still, Jonah wasn’t happy that the city had repented and escaped destruction. In fact, he was so angry he asked God just to kill him (4:1-4). Have any of us also been slow to admit that God’s ways are best even when we don’t understand them? Have any of us also obeyed God, only to be disappointed with the results?
Have any of us obeyed God, only to be disappointed with the results?
There may be nothing like a chronic, progressive, incurable disease to show us we’re not in control. We may have faced no other problem cutting closer to the core of our faith than the challenge we’re now called daily to confront. This is why it’s good to ponder Jonah’s words from the depths.
We long to be able to say with Jonah, “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.”
And God longs to hear from us the conviction Jonah expressed at the end of his prayer: “I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. . . . I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
Read: Jonah 2
Pray: Oh Lord, sometimes we find ourselves gasping for air, as if we’re underwater, in a trap from which there seems to be no escape. But sometimes, sometimes your light has broken through, and we’ve breathed freely from your kind provision. Today we will praise you in our distress and watch for you to deliver.
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