Jonah lifts his hand and feels the firm rolling sticky flesh of huge ribs surrounding him, and hears the clear rush of the beasts heart pounding. And the soft depths of the deeply muted deep sounds the death toll in his heart. Trembling he wipes his face clear of the mucus and mud and with horror he cries out, "God of my fathers.... I am here in the depths of this hideous fish... the worst place in the world! I am caught in the bottom of the world and there is an ocean above me. There is no way out! Here I am covered with the slimy disgust of my own failures! I hate this place I am in! I hate even myself! I hate this... I am in terror! Why was I ever born? Is this my fate? To be buried alive at sea? Alive? Am.... I.... still.... alive? AM I STILL ALIVE???"
With each deep thrust of the fish into the deep, Jonah's ears pop and he knows the creature who has swallowed him is going down and down into a darkness that he feels in the depths of his soul. The complete blackness has blinded him with utter despair....He screams out "Oh God of my Fathers.... You are the ONLY one who knows where I am at right now. And You are the ONLY one who has preserved my life in spite of my own behavior.I have failed You and I am now defeated. No one can fight against You! But now I am covered in acid bitterness and unusable. My soul is completely bound in a prison of willful disobedience. You don't need me..... I am worthless to You now... it's over for me"
"Here I am destroyed, it's over for me..." he weeps with a broken heart, having lost his dreams for self.
"Here I am destroyed, it's over...." soul shattering cries from the depths of pain pour out in his frail mortality, realizing he did have a destiny that he was created to complete.
"Here I am destroyed.... sorrow overwhelms him and honest repentance starts to crumble his pride.
"Here I am God...." grief smashes his will in his supplication to God.
"Here God.... here...." Jonah realizes that as his spiritual pain eases, and his surroundings have not drowned him, that the God of his Fathers is here in the the darkness with him. He is not alone.
Finally submitted... finally willing... finally obedient...finally understanding that the fear of man is nothing compared to falling into the hands of the living God.
It is better to obey God as his fathers did, than to please himself and find chaos within and without.
Jonah's prayer in the belly of the great fish not only saved his own soul, but saved thousands of lives he would preach to in Nineveh.
Your prayers count.... no matter where you are right now. Pray.
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