JONAH 2:1-10 – “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”
THEME OF THE DAY: THE RESTORATION OF GOD’S SERVANT. The story of Jonah overflows with instruction for us. We learn about the folly of disobeying God, the insanity in doing so, and the lengths God will go to restore His disobeying servants. It is the latter that draws our attention today.
It might be hard to grasp, but the level of pain Jonah went through to be restored to his life’s purposes was high expressions of God’s love. I mean think about it. God could have said, “Okay, Jonah, you don’t want to obey. Fine, I am going to take you to sea and drown you. I will find someone else eager to obey me.” Or God could have just left Jonah alive in the fish’s belly until the digestive juices of this creature took the disobeying prophet’s life. Yet God didn’t do either, and in our failures, which are many, He won’t toss us out to sea and let us perish. No, He will demonstrate extreme measures of His love to restore us should we decide to go our own ways contrary to His ways.
A couple of things we learn from Jonah in the Lord restoring us from our seasons or times of disobeying Him.
First, Jonah sought the Lord and that fervently – “ Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice” (Jonah 2:1-2). When we are in a state of disobedience to the Lord, we won’t pray. We actually attempt to ignore Him. We know what will happen if we do seek to pray– humility, conviction, and repentance. And pride will fight hard against all three, but that is when God “turns the heat up” on His chastisement of us. For Jonah, it took a little time in the belly of a fish to get him to seek the Lord. Just think how painful and disgusting that experience was. The Lord will take us to extremes, if needed, to get us to seek Him in prayer to get the process of restoration started.
Another lesson about restoration from Jonah – the attitudes of submission and worship replace the attitudes of rebellion and selfishness – “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). This is the ultimate goal in the Lord’s work of restoring wayward servants – a life of submissive worship. Don’t forget that when the Lord’s painful correction is upon us.
God’s love is not only saving love but restoring love, and that will include tough love, often exercised to great extremes.
PRAYER: Father, thank You for Your tough love and mercy that restores me when I drift from You.
REFLECTION: When God restores His wayward servant/child, it often requires pain and suffering.