You hurled me into the deep

Posted Dec 10, 09:34

“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. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple’” (Jonah 2:3-4).

How did it feel sliding down the beast’s throat to a splash landing in the gastric juices of the belly? Then the beast dives into the depths, makes a sudden turn after a school of fish, gobbles down some minnows mixed with seaweed, then tears back up towards the surface. No roller coaster had more twists and turns, but Jonah’s ride was a terror, not a thrill. It occurred in utter darkness. No wonder he felt “I have been banished from your sight.”

In the belly of the ship, Jonah had slept while the sailors held a prayer meeting. Now in the belly of the fish, Jonah has a unique prayer encounter. He struggles not with the elements, but with the Lord of Nature. “You hurled me into the deep,” Jonah says. Not the sailors. God! Here, when all hope is lost, Jonah acknowledges the Lordship of God.

He is Lord of the heavens and Lord of the earth. Lord of the land and the sea. Jonah has to acknowledge that truth. The Lord directed the storm to the exact spot where Jonah’s ship was sailing. And God commanded the fish to pick Jonah up the moment he was tossed into the sea. Jonah doesn’t believe he will see land again – he will end his life as fish food. With no other options, Jonah finally recognizes that God is Lord of his life. You cannot acknowledge Him as Lord and not do what He tells you.

That’s why we can never say, “No, Lord!” It’s a contradiction. Lordship requires obedience. If we shake our fist at God and rebel against His commands, He lets us run. But He is Lord of all nature, and eventually we may be forced to submit. Peter in Acts had a vision of a sheet descending from heaven with numerous unclean animals. “Kill and eat!” he was told. “No, Lord” said Peter, “I have never eaten anything unclean.” He was not going to save the heathen Romans. But God repeated the vision and Peter got the message. Rather than run away, Peter went to Caesarea and brought God’s message to the centurion Cornelius and his family. Jesus is Lord and Peter recognized that he must obey.

Jonah struggles to surrender to the Lordship of God. I struggle, too. Are we going to run away? Or are we going to submit?

We pray: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Are we serious when we pray those words? Are we willing to be part of God’s answer to that prayer?

I can’t help but notice that it never occurred to Jonah to pray for Nineveh.

sourcee-Secret Believers

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