Today's Reading
Jonah is more than a "whale" of a story (pun intended). It's a story of the mystery of God's plan -- to bring salvation to the capital city of Israel's greatest enemy at the time. It's a story of a man hearing God's call and running the other way -- even being willing to perish in the sea rather than do God's will. It's a story of learning to trust God's judgment and His mercy. It's a story of God using Jonah's rebellion and deliverance from the great fish to convict the hearts of pagan people. And...it's more than a story. Way more! Some modern intellectuals want to discount it as a fairy tale. But Jesus quoted from it and called it a sign of his death, burial and resurrection. If Jesus said that it was true, that's good enough for me.
Revelation. I encourage you to just soak in this scene which takes place in eternity. John was devastated that no one was worthy to open the scroll until Jesus Christ was revealed as the One who "won the victory." Read how the great living beings in heaven fall and worship Him; you will get a picture of our future. My mind travels at this time of year to Handel's Messiah, a chorus of which comes from this passage. It's playing in my head right now.
Psalms. I sat recently in a room with twelve other people, all Prayer Partners at Stone Ridge Church. As I heard their stories and became aware of the widely diverse background in age, education and Christian experience which they come from, I noticed something very powerful. You could say in a way that they were a living picture of Psalm 133. How good and how pleasant it is!
Proverbs. We in our country have been so drilled with demanding our rights that we often forget that it is God who provides and God who ultimately judges. Our ultimate dependence must be upon Him.
What is He saying to you today?
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In Jonah 1:15, it mentions that the other sailors were awestruck by the Lord, they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve Him. This was after they had thrown Jonah overboard as a last resort. The storm stopped. It's truly amazing to me how the Lord can even use our disobedience to draw others to Him. Of course, this shouldn't be a reason to disobey Him, but this just reminds me of how He uses ordinary people who do silly things like run from Him. On a side note, I wonder if those sailors happened to see the big fish swallow Jonah? Hmmm, that would be interesting to know :)
ReplyDeleteInsightful question, Ranelle! Thanks.
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