Passage for meditation is from the book of Jonah chapter 1 & 2
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai : “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.” Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity” as written in Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” They cast lots which fell on Jonah.
In verse 13 we can see Jonah confessing his mistake to the sailors that he is the one responsible for the storm and hence requested them to pick him up and throw into the sea. Many times, we know what’s the right thing to do but still we expect someone else to throw us out. Here Jonah could have thrown himself into the sea and saved the sailors all the trouble, but he wanted the sailors to pick and throw him out of the ship.
Despite Jonah disobeying God to this extent, God didn’t leave him alone to die in the sea, but the He sent a huge fish to swallow him and hence save him from drowning. (Jonah 1:17). God kept him safe in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights.
As we further read down we see Jonah desperately crying and praying out to the Lord who alone could save him. When we pray, God doesn’t give us what we want but He always gives us what we need. Here Jonah repented of his wrong doing and cried out to the Lord for help. God answered his prayer and commanded the fish to vomit him out of his mouth on the shore.
God interrupts our lives to reroute us towards His perfect plan and will for our lives. According to 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 “God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” chose the weak things of the world and three lowly things and the despised things.” Hence God can take any circumstance of our lives to teach us life lessons.
God had a plan and hope for Jonah and he has the same for you also. Always remember that God is in control of everything. The God who spoke to the giant fish to deliver Jonah can speak to our difficult situations and deliver us too. So never loose heart or be discouraged even if you see no hopes for your future. Our God who saved Jonah from a terrible end is able to save you too from all you trials and miseries.
By Pr.Sunil Kumar
