Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Wrapped Up in Problems
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish” (Jonah 2:1 nlt).
After the crew tossed Jonah overboard in the middle of a storm, God sent a custom-designed watercraft Jonah’s way. In other words, He brought in a very large fish to swallow the prodigal prophet.
Now, did God do this because He hated Jonah? No. Was He angry at Jonah? Again, no. God did this because He loved Jonah and wanted to get his attention. He wanted to bring him back to Himself.
Jonah knew what was right, but he was running from it. But while he was inside of this fish, he called out to the Lord. Remarkably, this happened after he was there for three days and three nights.
I can just imagine him sitting there wrapped in seaweed, fish slapping him in the face, smelling who knows what with the fish’s gastric juices bubbling away.
Then he finally came to his senses and called out to the Lord. This reminds us that we can pray anywhere and anytime. We can pray while we’re kneeling. We can pray while we’re standing or sitting. And we can pray with our eyes open or closed.
God will hear your prayer in the ocean, and He will hear your prayer when you’re pacing around, stuck at home. God will hear your prayer wherever it is.
Ephesians 6:18 tells us, “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion” (nlt). Even when things are bad, God is still good. So we can give praises to Him because of that. That is what Jonah did. And by the way, I think it was here that he experienced personal revival.
Maybe you feel like you’re wrapped up with problems right now. You can’t see any way out of your particular circumstances. Know this: Your situation isn’t hopeless. God can come into your life and change your entire story.
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