Good Morning Friends,
“You hurled me into the deep, into the very
heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and
breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will
look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me, the
deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the
mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought
my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. When my life was ebbing away, I
remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who
cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a
song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the LORD. And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah
onto dry land.” (Jonah 2:3-10)
It took a violent storm, being thrown
overboard, and being swallowed by a great fish to wake Jonah up to what he had
done. But in the belly of the fish, Jonah came to repentance. There are three
statements of repentance in this passage:
“I will look again
to your holy temple.”
“I remembered you,
Lord, and my prayer rose to you.”
“What I have vowed
I will make good.”
Jonah turned back to the Lord, cried out to
Him for help, and committed himself to obedience to even those things he did
not want to do. That’s what repentance is -- turning back to God and agreeing
to walk in the path God puts before us, rather than our own path.
When Jonah came to repentance, God came to
his aid – “The fish vomited Jonah onto dry land.” As soon as Jonah was willing
to be obedient to God’s call, God released him from the perilous discipline he
was under.
When we turn away from the Lord, repentance
is what God is looking for from us -- just as He did from Jonah.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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