Jonah 1:1-6; 1:17-2:10
Jonah reminds me of a naughty child acting out against his parents. As we start into the short book of Jonah, God instructs Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim to the people their sinful living and ways. Jonah doesn't want to, so he ignores God's instructions and tries to run away. Well, as you know, Jonah ends up in the belly of the fish and it's in and through this terrible situation that he has a change of heart, crying out and turning back to the Lord.
So why is it that so many times we need to have that "belly of the fish" experience before we fully recognize and surrender to God? What can we do to work on this going forward? Tami W.
I think it is because it brings us back to Christ. It brings us back for our need for Christ. We can't do this on our own. We NEED Him.
I believe we can be open at all times to God's will, and be willing to follow it, knowing that it is good and pleasing and perfect (Romans 12, 1-2) We now have something to know this that Jonah did not have -- we have God's complete written word, and we have the Holy Spirit to convince us it is true and to be trusted. By His word we can be confident that whatever God calls us to, He will also equip us to accomplish. We must always pray that we would have discernment to see His will for our lives, the courage to do it, and the persistence to stick with it.
Excellent John K.
Re: . . . why is it that so many times we need to have that "belly of the fish" experience before we fully recognize and surrender to God?
It may be because we forget the pains we felt the last time.
OR it could be that the last time we tried we didn't give things a fair chance. Maybe we got scared or disappointed because we didn't pay enough attention to what God does.