by Linda Johnson
“The only good thing about rock bottom is that you’ll finally look up.” Did you know that Jonah prayed, finally. It’s in Jonah 2:1-9. The old axiom holds true. When things get really bad, when you don’t see any other way out, when there’s no one else to turn to, when things are desperate, then we turn to the Lord. Thank God that He never changes and is ready to hear our pleas.
This is the third sermon this month taken from Jonah. The quote at the first of this article was one voiced by Pastor Josh. When he gets revved up, he will surprise his listeners with zingers like that. Jonah, after being awakened, was made aware of the crises the crew was in. The storm was so unusual Jonah realized it was because of him, the ship would sink and all would perish. So, he jumped overboard into the sea.
Here he is in the middle of the sea, far from land. It’s certain he will drown. What does God do? He sends a submarine (whale) to swallow Jonah. After 3 days and nights in this whale, Jonah finally turns to the Lord. Talk about stubborn and hard headed, Jonah takes the cake. It’s fair to say that he had finally reached rock bottom.
Jonah was a prophet who didn’t want to carry out God’s plan. He went the opposite direction, took a ship to get as far out of reach as he could, jumped off a ship to drown, and basically held his breath for three days and nights before he did the right thing--pray and repent. God, in his goodness, directed the whale to take Jonah to his destination and spit him out on dry land.
The weaver weaves the thread of the gospel through this story. And our pastor is adept at pointing out to us how we can be like Jonah in our lives. And, how much better it would be for us to emulate the whale. The whale was more obedient. He saved Jonah and took him where he needed to go.
There were two other statements he made in Sunday’s sermon that are also timely. (l) Be all the help you can be and God will bless you for it. (2) The only way we fail is not doing what God gave us to do.
“The only good thing about rock bottom is that you’ll finally look up.” Did you know that Jonah prayed, finally. It’s in Jonah 2:1-9. The old axiom holds true. When things get really bad, when you don’t see any other way out, when there’s no one else to turn to, when things are desperate, then we turn to the Lord. Thank God that He never changes and is ready to hear our pleas.
This is the third sermon this month taken from Jonah. The quote at the first of this article was one voiced by Pastor Josh. When he gets revved up, he will surprise his listeners with zingers like that. Jonah, after being awakened, was made aware of the crises the crew was in. The storm was so unusual Jonah realized it was because of him, the ship would sink and all would perish. So, he jumped overboard into the sea.
Here he is in the middle of the sea, far from land. It’s certain he will drown. What does God do? He sends a submarine (whale) to swallow Jonah. After 3 days and nights in this whale, Jonah finally turns to the Lord. Talk about stubborn and hard headed, Jonah takes the cake. It’s fair to say that he had finally reached rock bottom.
Jonah was a prophet who didn’t want to carry out God’s plan. He went the opposite direction, took a ship to get as far out of reach as he could, jumped off a ship to drown, and basically held his breath for three days and nights before he did the right thing--pray and repent. God, in his goodness, directed the whale to take Jonah to his destination and spit him out on dry land.
The weaver weaves the thread of the gospel through this story. And our pastor is adept at pointing out to us how we can be like Jonah in our lives. And, how much better it would be for us to emulate the whale. The whale was more obedient. He saved Jonah and took him where he needed to go.
There were two other statements he made in Sunday’s sermon that are also timely. (l) Be all the help you can be and God will bless you for it. (2) The only way we fail is not doing what God gave us to do.
