GodandMe2theMax

Jonah's Emotional Cup Overflows...Jonah Chapter Four

Jonah 4

1) But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.
2) He prayed to the Lord, "O Lord, is this not what I said when I ws still at home?  That is why I ws so quick to flee to Tarshish.  I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
3) Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
4) But the Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
5) Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city.  There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.
6) Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.
7) But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.
8) When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint.  He wanted to die and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
9) But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"  "I do," he said, "I am angry enough to die."
10) But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about the vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow.  It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
11) But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well.  Should I  not be concerned about that great city?"

So here I am at the end of the book of Jonah, and Jonah is really no different in attitude than at the beginning of the book; in fact, he's probably worse.  What a parallel to many lives of Christians today.  We wander away from the Lord, have a huge trial that brings us back to the Lord, we stay there, obedient for a while, then we drift back to our old ways.  Yes, there's a lot of modern day Jonahs, unfortunately. 

But why? Why did Jonah so desperately want the Ninevites to suffer God's judgment?  Besides their obvious wickedness, I think there's two things, right off the bat.  First, Jonah, like many other Jews, didn't want God's mercy to be given to the non Jews.  He felt they weren't worthy to be saved from punishment.  But my God is a God of Grace and Mercy.  In reality, no one deserve what God has to offer, but He gives it freely to anyone who wants it.

Second, Jonah definitely had some pride issues going on.  He knew if he went and preached repentance, God just might actually save those Ninevites, leaving him with egg on face (verse 2).  He would rather die than have this seemingly public humility.

The question has to be asked.  Am I ever like Jonah?  In the respect that I don't want evil people to come to the Lord, I can't say I am.  No, but in the respect of pride, yeah, that's an area of concern sometimes.  I want my way, and I want to be right.  It's human nature, right?  Actually, it's my sinful nature.

When I was first married, I learned about this thing called "The Emotional Cup."  When you have unresolved issues in your life and interpersonal relationships, eventually they build up.  Everyone's emotional cup is only so big, and when you add just one more drop of anything to it, it starts to overflow.  It overflows with anger, hatred, irrational behavior, and other sins or unhealthy thoughts.  Jonah had a lot of unresolved issues, don't you think?  Yes, his emotional cup was overflowing in Chapter four.  He had not yet reconciled that his God wanted to save his enemy.  Sure, he preached to the Ninevites like he was supposed to, but subliminally, he was probably trying to tell them to not believe his Message.  He had just lived through a miraculous ordeal in the belly of the great fish, but it didn't take long for him to have short-term amnesia.  Yes, Jonah's emotional cup was overflowing because he hadn't dealt with the underlying issues of sin.

Jonah plopped himself up on the hill and sat with disgust to watch the scene unfold.  He hoped God would really destroy the city, but I think he knew in his heart that was not going to happen.  God could have destroyed Jonah for his attitude, but he didn't.  He provided a vine to grow and give him shelter from the sun and heat.  Yet, when God provided a worm and the scorching sun, Jonah was so bitter he wanted to die.  How illogical is that? Jonah didn't plant the vine, it wasn't his.  He had no vested interest in it, except to take advantage of it's shade. 

How many times do we as Christians sit under the Vine, soak up the shade, and enjoy life as we know it?  Life is good, we're not out in the heat.  Yet, when the first ripple of heat comes our way, our emotional cup overflows with bitterness, anger, frustration, addiction, and other sins.  This concept about an emotional cup is perhaps one of the most practical things I've learned in my adult life.  It's human nature to shove things under the rug and not deal with the raw emotion of life's ups and downs.  It's easier to walk away from a painful situation than to actually address the underlying issues at hand.  And when our cup becomes full, when we add one more drop of anything into our cup, it will overflow.  It's unavoidable when you have unresolved issues. 

Sometimes dealing with issues hurts like salt in a raw wound.  It's not easy, and actually, it can be quite painful!  Confrontation doesn't come naturally to most people either, and that's why it's usually avoided.  Yet, it's only by going through those hard times of dealing with the facts and resolving them in a Godly way that you can avoid your emotional cup overflowing.  I know when I start having anger issues creep back into my life, there's usually something underneath that is causing me to act out in anger.  It's the natural bi-product.  It was the natural one for Jonah, too.  No, it wasn't right, but still, when God isn't on the throne, sin will reign.  It was clearly reigning in Jonah's life.

I'm so thankful I serve a merciful God.  He answers prayer.  He saved me, and I didn't deserve it.  He spared the sailors lives when they pleaded for mercy.  He rescued Jonah and spared his life when he prayed from inside the great fish.  And He saved the entire nation of Nineveh because they repented. 

As I wrap up Jonah, I'm reminded that life's circumstances don't always go the way I think they should go, but God is always in control, regardless.  I can trust that He knows what is best, even if that contradicts with what I think.  For me, I've been praying about something for over a year.  In my spirit, I really felt like God was leading in that direction.  Doors seemed to be opening, maybe only a small glimmer of light, but still, they weren't closed.  But God's plan seems to be moving in another direction, and that's not always easy to deal with.  But I don't want to be like Jonah.  No, I don't want to be so miserable in my circumstances that I want to die.  I don't want to be angry at God because He didn't allow something to happen that I thought should have.  How sad that Jonah got to that state of mind.  No, for me, TRUST, I MUST.  Through the shade of the Vine or through the heat of the Son, He is with me, and I will trust Him. 

---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com

 

"Do-Over" - God gives second chances...Jonah Chapter three

My mom is perhaps the fairest grandma in the world.  She also has the gift of giving (or maybe that's buying...)  If it's on sale, she'll buy it and store it up for a good gift.  She has five grandsons and one granddaughter from two of her three boys and me.  If she bought one t-shirt for a grandchild, she bought six, all in different colors.  If she bought an alarm clock for one, she would buy one for all six grandchildren.  A mistake, perhaps, but it was only out of love that she did this.  She wanted to be the best grandma she could be, and with six grandchildren, the last thing she would want is to play favorites...or to be accused of having favorites!

However, one day I had to have a sit down with her.  "You have to love them the way they need to be loved, mom.  You can't just give cookie-cutter gifts and expect them to love everything you give them.  Take some time and only offer things that you think they will really like...things that will mean something special to them.  They don't care about receiving things...They only care if you took the time to really know them for who they are...It's the thought that goes behind the gift, not the gift itself.  Then what you give and do for them will be appreciated more, and they'll appreciate you more.  They would rather you not give them anything at all instead of something without meaning."

OK, the conversation was much more in depth than that, seasoned with words of love, and believe you me, I prayed and prayed before having that difficult conversation with my mom.  I didn't know if she would be offended or how she would take it, but I knew it had to be said.  The relationship between my kids (specifically Amber) and my mom was deteriorating, especially since they saw her only a few times a year, at best.  My mom's constant attempts to show her love with gift giving weren't being received in the way she intended.  In fact, it was creating a wedge between them.

My mom received well what I said, and the next time she saw Amber, she sat down with her one on one.   "Can Gram have a do-over?"  She asked her for forgiveness, and she then started down a road of re-building their Gram-Am relationship. 

Well, as I read in Jonah chapter three today, I see the same thing.  God gave Jonah a "do-over."  My God is a God of second chances, not just for Jonah, but for the people of Nineveh, too!

Jonah 3
1) Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.
2) "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
3) Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.  Now Nineveh was a very important city - a visit required three days.
4) On the first day, Jonah started into the city.  He proclaimed, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."
5) The Ninevites believed God.  They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6) When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
7) Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:  "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything: do not let them eat or drink.
8) But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth.  Let everyone call urgently on God.  Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.
9) Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
10) When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened.

I love verse one.  Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.  How many times is that true in our lives?  How many times does God speak to us about an area in our life.  We listen.  We nod.  Then like Jonah, we run the other way.  Maybe not blatantly run the other way, but eventually we find ourselves far from where He's called us or asked us to be.  Sometimes God nudges us; sometimes He slaps us with the Truth...not just once, but over and over.  Yes, my God is a God of second chances (and thirds and fourths), and I'm so glad He is. 

He is faithful.  He lets me ask for a do-over.  He forgives, and He restores.  Think about the Ninevites.  They were wicked people.  In Jonah's mind, they did not deserve God's forgiveness or mercy.  Yet, the power of God is so strong that they believed.  Imagine the whole city coming to faith in God?  That's exactly what happened, and it was the last thing Jonah ever expected.

Repentance is not just saying you're sorry or even acknowledging you've done something wrong.  It's not a passive verb.  To repent is to turn the other way.  The Ninevites didn't just believe the message Jonah proclaimed, they took action to change their ways.  They heard the prophet proclaim that God was going to overturn the city in forty days.  They believed.  They repented.  And they changed.  God granted them a do-over.

I wonder if we simply spoke up more about the Gospel, what would people's reactions really be?  Sure, it was nothing less than a miracle for the entire wicked city of Nineveh to come to Christ, yet God used one man to proclaim the message.  A man who didn't really even want them to believe.  We have too many closet Christians, afraid to go, afraid to tell.  Maybe we're like Jonah - we think that a particular people group just won't ever change.  Maybe we feel ill-equipped to tell others.  Maybe we're just not 'comfortable' sharing Christ with people we know.  As I think about Jonah, do you think he was really 'comfortable' sharing this Message with his arch-enemy?  I doubt it, yet he was obedient.

Yes, God gave the people of Nineveh a do-over.  He had compassion on them because they turned from their evil ways.  In fact, Matthew 12:39-41 says in the judgment, the men of Nineveh will stand up and condemn the Israelites for their failure to repent.  I wonder if they will also condemn other nations, even this great nation that we live in?  I'm not sure, but I do know that the same God who gave Nineveh the do-over is the same One who offers do-overs to me.  I hope He doesn't have to threaten to destroy my city to get me to repent the next time, but I'm thankful for the mercy He shows me.

Help me Lord to listen more and act on my own less.  Help me to obey the first time; I don't want to take advantage of your offer for a do-over, but I'm thankful you offer forgiveness when we repent.  Thank you for second chances.

---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com

Putting myself in Jonah's wet shoes...Insights from Jonah Chapter two

As I read Jonah chapter two this morning, I'm trying to really put myself in Jonah's wet shoes.  The chapter is filled with emotion and power...and truth about God's faithfulness.  It also gives a pretty good description of what it was like for Jonah down inside the belly of the great fish.  It was no party down there, having a cookout, or toasting marshmallows by the light of a candle.  No, Jonah was alone, disgusting, miserable, and perhaps for the first time since running from God, he was facing the facts.

Jonah 2
1) "From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 
2) He said:  'In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me.  From the depths of the grave I called for help, and You listened to my cry. 
3) You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.' 
4) I said, 'I have been banished from our sight; yet, I will look again toward your holy temple.
5) The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6) To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.  But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.
7) When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you to your holy temple.
8) Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9) But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed I will make good.  Salvation comes from the Lord.'
10) And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land."

Try to put yourself in Jonah's shoes with me.  "Throw me overboard.  It's my fault."  With no other choice, the sailors did just that.  Surely, Jonah believed his life would soon be over.  He admitted his sin of disobeying God, yet he didn't really have a change of heart.  I wonder why he offered himself to be thrown into the sea instead of having a change of heart right there in the boat?  Certainly he could have confessed and God could have spared him the belly of the whale experience.  (Could have...not necessarily would have!)  Admitting sin and repenting are two different things.  At that point, Jonah knew in his heart that he was to blame for the storm, but I don't think his heart was yet aligned with God's.

How many times is this same thing true in my life?  I know deep down what the truth is, but doing something about it is much more difficult.  It's easier to just keep the truth buried deep within my soul then to be honest and do something about it.  OK, I'm not a closet alcoholic or drug dealer, but I am a sinner.  We all are.  The Bible says we are created with a sin nature, and everyone has tendencies toward certain sins.  Me?  Probably the thing I struggle with most is self-control when it comes to eating.  No, I'm not two-ton Tessie, but I do love my food.  Just when I think I have it under control, it creeps back into my life, like a snake in the night.  It's a constant struggle, and one I will probably struggle with the rest of my life.  Having no thyroid definitely doesn't help the weight issues, either, but it's not an excuse.  My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit now that I am a believer, and like Jonah, sometimes I know about this sin; I even admit it, but do I repent and turn the other way?   Food for thought.  :)

So there Jonah is...seemingly buried alive.  He says it himself, "From the depths of the grave..."  I wonder if this is the first waterboarding experience recorded in history and administered by God Almighty?  It almost seems like spiritual torture, but I don't believe God works like that.  He allows us to go through situations, and in them, there  is always a purpose.  For Jonah, the engulfing waters threatened him; he sank deep into the sea.  BUT, God brought his life up from the pit.  Jonah says, "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord."  The King James version says, "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord." 

How true those words ring.  When things were going south, Jonah remembered the Lord.  We go along life's merry way, our life decaying and fading away, our soul fainting within us.  We try to do what's right with our own power, worse yet, we don't even try.  Life throws some curveballs at us, we get thrown into the pit, then we remember the Lord.  Then we remember to pray.  This is unfortunately the case with many Christians, too.  As I read the words of Jonah, I'm reminded that life doesn't have to take us by surprise.  Sure, the event itself might be a shocker, but when things happen to throw us in the belly of the whale, our daily intimate walk with the Lord shouldn't just start with the incident.  It should be an ongoing love affair that grows stronger with each passing day, not just spike when the trouble comes, then fade off when the outcome looks better. 

Finally, Jonah talks about idols.  An idol is anything that takes the place of God in our life.  In our western culture today, it's rarely a statue.  (Although I pass a Buddhist temple every time I go to the mall, filled with hundreds of statues that people come pray to!)  No, most idol worship is less obvious.  It's self.  Television.  Music.  Food.  Job.  Finances.  Even our children. 

I have a one inch pewter chair that sits in my kitchen on the counter.  I got it at a Ladies Retreat several years ago, and it serves as a daily reminder to me.  Who is on the throne of my life?  Is God?  or am I sitting there, with my own desires, getting my own way?  If God is not on the throne of your life, then someone or something else is...and steps need to be made to put God on the the throne and replace the idols.

As I study this prayer of Jonah, I find it interesting that Jonah was just grateful to be alive.  He wasn't praying for deliverance out of the belly of the great fish; he was definitely in no place to bargain with God.  Sometimes we try to do just that.  We tell God, if you do this for me, I will do that for you.  Lord, if you take this burden from me, then I promise I will start living the way you want me to.  But not with Jonah.  Maybe he knew deep down that God was going to have him preach to those terrible Ninevites after all.  He ends his prayer with, "What I have vowed I will make good.  Salvation comes from the Lord."

Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.  (I don't know about you, but that whole vomiting experience, the sounds and the smells, is just more than I really care to imagine.  UGH!  Someone needed some extra soap and deordant for days, I do believe.)

I can sure learn a lot from these ten verses in Jonah chapter two.  God is a God of second chances, and I'm so glad He is.  My past mistakes don't disqualify me from God using me in the future.  In truth, no one "qualifies" for service to the King of Kings, yet God chooses to use us, if we are willing.  Are you running from God?  Are you in the belly of the whale thinking about the mistakes you've made?  Maybe It's time for a change of heart, like Jonah.  It's time to start running toward God instead of away from Him.  It's time to choose God's way all the time, not just when you're in distress.

Some of my favorite verses are found in Psalm 40:1-5.  As I study Jonah, I can't help but think of the parallels to David's life and words.

1) I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry.
2) He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
3) He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear and put heir trust in the Lord.
4) Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.
5) Many, O Lord my God are the wonders you have done.  The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.

If the book of Jonah ended after chapter two, it would be full of wisdom for me to glean.  But there's so much more to learn in Chapters three and four.  Alas, that's for another day, another blog.  Today, I'm just glad God spit me up onto dry land and gives me an opportunity to serve Him.  I pray I will never get to the point where pride or sin in my life keep me from fulfilling His will.  Yep, I can learn a lot from Jonah, but I hope I never follow in his wet shoes.  No, I plan to stay on dry land, seeking the Son. 

 

---Beth Banfill
www.Godandme2theMax.com

You want me to go where? Practical lessons from Jonah Chapter One...

Jonah 1
1) The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:
2) "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me, "
3) But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.  He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.  After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
4) Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.
5) All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god.  And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.  But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
6) The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep?  Get up and call on your god!  Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not perish."
7) Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity."  They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8) So the asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us?  What do you do?  Where do you come from?  What is your country?  From what people are you?"
9) He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10) This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
11) The sea was getting rougher and rougher.  So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12) "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm.  I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13) Instead, the mend did their best to row back to land.  But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.
14) Then they cried to the Lord, "O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man's life.  Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for You, O Lord, have done as you pleased."
15) Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.
16) At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to Him.
17) But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

"You want me to go where, God?  To Nineveh?"  Jonah probably thought this was all a big dream...a nightmare, even.  Nineveh was the capital city in the Assyrian Empire, and Assyria was filled with the kind of people that were easy to hate.  Yet, God's mercy is not prejudiced.  Nineveh's residents were sinful, wicked, and selfish, but God loved them just as much as He loves you and me.

I guess Jonah had some issues.  First, he was jaded.  He had a hatred for a particular people group, and he judged them without knowing them as individuals.  (Sound familiar, even with Christians today?)  And when God said to go, he went alright...in the opposite direction to Tarshish.  He boarded a ship and laid low.  (How could he think God wouldn't find him?)

Think about the irony.  Jonah is a prophet and God calls him to go preach repentance to Nineveh.  Instead, he runs to Joppa and hangs out sleeping in the bottom of the boat, seemingly hiding from God.  How can a prophet get to that point where he actually thinks he can hide from God?  Jonah knew he was not in line with what God wanted him to do.  His actions were outright blatant sin.  In fact, if I was running from God, I would hope I wouldn't be stupid enough to tell everyone why I was there.  Yet Jonah 1:10 tells us that Jonah did just that.

Think about times in your life when God has clearly told you something.  Maybe He's called you to full time ministry.  Maybe He's shown you that you need to be involved in an area of service.  Maybe He's asked for a commitment from you.  What are you doing now?  Have you run like Jonah?  Are you laying low and hiding out?

What about today's modern day prophets and preachers?  My heart is heavy thinking about great men of God who have fallen away, due to sin in their lives.  In doing so, they not only destroy their reputation, but they destroy the reputation of Christ.  Sin is powerful.  It creeps into our lives and takes residence, sometimes without us even being aware of it.  The more comfortable we become with sin, the easier it is to ignore it.  Soon, we come to think there's nothing wrong with a little dabbling in it.  Our hearts become cold toward the things of God, and we become self-focused instead of God-focused.  Worse yet, we ignore the sin altogether.  We keep "serving God" and ignore completely the elephant in the room. 

Having daily times of confession and soul searching is so important.  I'm sure Jonah didn't think he was such a bad guy for not loving the Assyrians.  It's like if Osama Bin Laden walked into our church and said he wanted to be saved.  Would it be so easy to share the love of Christ with him and embrace him with God's love?  That's what the Assyrian Empire was to Jonah.  His people had experienced atrocities from them.  The last thing he thought was fair and just was for them to come to repentance.  Yet, if Jonah was examining his heart, I would imagine God would have shown him his pride and selfishness.

Can you imagine the guilt Jonah had?  He knew the storm was his fault, yet he didn't speak up until the sailors cast lots to see who was to blame.  Then Jonah fessed up.  You see, it's never too late to come clean with God.  We can be in the midst of an unbelievable storm, but acknowledging God and His plan is always best.  When Jonah told the sailors to throw him overboard, they didn't want to.  Instead, they rowed harder toward land.  But when they saw their efforts were futile, they reluctantly threw Jonah overboard, and asked God to not hold them accountable for killing an innocent man. 

The Bible says in Jonah 1:16 that this experience caused these sailors to turn toward the one true God.  Jonah 1:16 says "At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to Him."  In Almighty God fashion, God brought good out of sin.  Jonah's disobedience caused everyone around him to be in harm's way.  But when Jonah had a change of heart and took responsibility for his actions, the sailors came to the Lord and worshiped Him.

Just like Jonah, our sin can bring harm to the innocent bystanders around us, but God can bring calm in the storm.  And in a seemingly impossible way, God can bring us out of the storm unscathed.  OK, we don't really know if Jonah had any scratches or bruises, but he was alive in the belly of a great fish, and that was a miracle. 

I think of my own life, times where my priorities weren't right, times where I could have very easily gone the opposite direction.  Times where I did.  Yet I can look back and see how God loved me so much that He had prepared a way for me, like Jonah, to sit and think about my situation in the belly of a fish.  Darkness.  Dirt.  Slime.  Stench.  Dried out skin from the salt.  Me and God.  God and Me.  Solitude.  Loneliness. 

Have you ever been there, too?  Just remember, if you're in the belly of the fish, stinky and disgusting, you're not alone.  God is right there with you.  Once you've committed your life to Him, He holds on to you with super-glue.  You can't run away from him, try you might.  Take time while you're there to examine yourself and pray.  Ask God to show you sin in your life.  It may be three days, it may be longer, but eventually, God will allow you to be spit out on dry land to serve Him again.

You want me to go where?  You want me to do what?  Why am I here in the darkness?  Honesty with God.  Confronting sin.  Repentance.  The story of Jonah is filled with practical applications...and I've only covered chapter one. 

What about you?  What is God telling you to do?  Where is he telling you to go?  Did He place a call on your life and you're running in the opposite direction?  Is sin in your life keeping you from obeying?  Are you in a storm of life?  Do you feel like you're in solitary confinement? 

I hope the next time God tells me something, I can take a lesson from Jonah.  I hope I will just trust in His perfect plan and obey.  Hopefully I won't ask, "You want me to go where?"

---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com