Back from the dead

And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. Jonah 2:10

Jonah had been saved from drowning and for that he was thankful. But, "what was next?", he might have thought. He didn't know, but he thought about God. He prayed to God, thanking him and worshiping him from that place of a living death. Jonah repented.

There is a time to get right with God and that time is always now. But to shake us awake, God provides awakening experiences for us that are rude and uninvited. If you are walking close to God and something bad happens in your life, you might cling to God and receive comfort from him. But, if you are distant from God, the pain is pointing you back to God. To be in need of God is good and normal. The crisis brings us into needing God and into coming home to the Father.

Jonah came to the end of himself and sought God. Jonah died to himself. Jonah's plans died. All he had left was God and to God he prayed to God he gave himself. Jonah surrendered to God. Jonah became subdued to God. In a sense, he became born again. He became a believer again, but this time, a surrendered worshiper and humble servant. Jonah had been humiliated and humbled.

Some have speculated that after three days inside the fish, Jonah's skin may have become permanently bleached from the fish's digestive secretions. This might be true, but we do know that his near death experience changed him, because of what he said to God after three days. He changed.

When we are filled with despair and hopelessness, do we seek God, turn from our selves, die to our selves, and repent? Do we consider God when we are at our lowest or forget him? Do we call to mind God's goodness when we are in trouble? Do we cast our selves onto God when we fail?

If we find our selves on a cross, suffering; will we look to Jesus and ask him to remember us, putting our hope in him who is also suffering but having done no wrong?

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