Day 26: In Case of Fire

Jonah 2:1-10

Jonah is inside the belly of a great fish when he utters the prayer contained in the verses referenced above. Why? The underlying reason that Jonah is in this situation is disobedience. Jonah was told by the Lord to go and preach to the sinful people in Ninevah so they would repent. Jonah, from lack of compassion and dislike towards Ninevah, instead tries to flee from the Lord (Jonah 1:1-3

). Read the despair in Jonah’s prayer. Jonah is afraid of perishing (without God’s miraculous provision he already would be dead). He has been cast into the deep water; he had the feeling of drowning, waves crashing down on him and the weeds of the deep dragging him down. From the dark grave of the fish’s belly, his soul has fainted within him (2:7), and he turns to God and prays desperately.

This feeling that Jonah experienced is the same desperation that many experience spiritually today. When the weeds and thorns of life (worries like Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13) surround us and try to choke us out, we feel like we are drowning. We, as we should, appeal to our Lord and our brethren for help through prayer like Jonah in verse 7. The deliverance from darkness and entrapment we desire is the same as what Jonah received in verse 10. We also can feel this separation when we live a life of disobedience towards God, similar to Jonah.

There is nothing wrong with turning to God in times of desperation. We are His children and He expects that. He also expects that we turn to Him for every need. He expects us to seek His guidance in the good times and in the bad. As His children, we should rely on Him for our every need and sustenance, just as an earthly child does their parent. It should be our default practice to speak with God through the blessed gift of prayer. Our prayers reach the Father through the Son, who purchased His role as mediator with His blood. Let’s try to make it our normal practice to pray and seek His face in this dark world and not just in the “break glass in case of fire” situations.

Written by Tim Martin, a deacon at Mt. Juliet

# posted by JP @ 12:01 AM on Thursday, December 9, 2010

Comments:

Great study on Jonah; thanks Tim. My son and I were just reviewing this yesterday so I'm looking forward to sharing this with him.

TS

# posted by

Anonymous : December 9, 2010 at 1:09 AM

“DISTRACTIONS” - That is what comes to mind. Tim, in a great fashion you mentioned Jonah and Mt 13 - which remind us of how many distractions there are around us. You also reminded us that God illustrates the distractions as weeds and thorns – Sadly, I usually see them as "extra sleep" or "one more show before I turn it off" or "a few more e-mails" or ... I guess there are times I need to see and feel the thorns in my day and turn to the One who matters most! Thanks Tim ... And yes, my prayer request cards are coming out of pocket right now – I’m seeing the thorns of distraction and I’m praying.

# posted by

David R. Shannon : December 9, 2010 at 7:17 AM



Day 26: In Case of Fire Jonah 2:1-10 Jonah is inside the belly of a great fish when he utters the prayer contained in the verses referenced above. Why? The underlying reason that Jonah is in this situation is disobedience. Jonah was told by the Lord to go and preach to the sinful people in Ninevah so they would repent. Jonah, from lack of compassion and dislike towards Ninevah, instead tries to flee from the Lord (Jonah 1:1-3). Read the despair in Jonah’s prayer. Jonah is afraid of perishing (without God’s miraculous provision he already would be dead). He has been cast into the deep water; he had the feeling of drowning, waves crashing down on him and the weeds of the deep dragging him down. From the dark grave of the fish’s belly, his soul has fainted within him (2:7), and he turns to God and prays desperately. This feeling that Jonah experienced is the same desperation that many experience spiritually today. When the weeds and thorns of life (worries like Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13) surround us and try to choke us out, we feel like we are drowning. We, as we should, appeal to our Lord and our brethren for help through prayer like Jonah in verse 7. The deliverance from darkness and entrapment we desire is the same as what Jonah received in verse 10. We also can feel this separation when we live a life of disobedience towards God, similar to Jonah. There is nothing wrong with turning to God in times of desperation. We are His children and He expects that. He also expects that we turn to Him for every need. He expects us to seek His guidance in the good times and in the bad. As His children, we should rely on Him for our every need and sustenance, just as an earthly child does their parent. It should be our default practice to speak with God through the blessed gift of prayer. Our prayers reach the Father through the Son, who purchased His role as mediator with His blood. Let’s try to make it our normal practice to pray and seek His face in this dark world and not just in the “break glass in case of fire” situations. Written by Tim Martin, a deacon at Mt. Juliet # posted by JP @ 12:01 AM on Thursday, December 9, 2010 Comments: Great study on Jonah; thanks Tim. My son and I were just reviewing this yesterday so I'm looking forward to sharing this with him. TS # posted by Anonymous : December 9, 2010 at 1:09 AM “DISTRACTIONS” - That is what comes to mind. Tim, in a great fashion you mentioned Jonah and Mt 13 - which remind us of how many distractions there are around us. You also reminded us that God illustrates the distractions as weeds and thorns – Sadly, I usually see them as "extra sleep" or "one more show before I turn it off" or "a few more e-mails" or ... I guess there are times I need to see and feel the thorns in my day and turn to the One who matters most! Thanks Tim ... And yes, my prayer request cards are coming out of pocket right now – I’m seeing the thorns of distraction and I’m praying. # posted by David R. Shannon : December 9, 2010 at 7:17 AM Post a Comment << Home	Mt. Juliet Church of Christ 1940 N. Mt. Juliet Road P.O.Box 248 Mt.Juliet, TN 37122-0248 (615)758-2274 Fax:615-754-2351 Email Worship Services: Sunday Early Worship: 8AM Sunday Bible Study: 9:15AM Sunday Late Worship: 10:15AM Night Worship: 6PM Wednesday Bible Study: 7PM Past Archives: November 2010 December 2010

Day 26: In Case of Fire

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