Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Jonah, Chapter 2
Jonah 2: "In my distress, I called t the Lord and He answered me. From the depths of the grave, I called for help and You listened to my cry. 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 You sit yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’" (From the depths of guilt, separation from God’s love, the pit of hell on earth...Jonah knew God was there.)
"The engulfing waters were at my throat, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of te mountains, I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in...forever." (sin, the unholy life of self-centered focus, ...and damnation)
"But You brought me up from the pit, O Lord, my God. When my life was ebbing away (in lonely, helpless hopelessness), I remembered You, Lord, and my prayer rose to You, to Your holy temple. (to the mercy seat of protection and grace, in God’s holy presence)
"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
"But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you (myself, my will, my all)
"What I have vowed, I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord."
Verse 10: "And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land."
Such a hard thing for us. Offering a sacrifice of praise amidst struggle. Who ever accepts their depression and trial as a rescue attempt from their Father? Jonah was spared twice! Once when he was sent to the sea’s deep grip where he had nowhere else to go; God carried him in the belly of a whale (a lost soul, floundering, too limp to resist anymore). The more recognizable saving of Jonah from out of the depths onto safe dry land (when the trial snaps us to!) Both were necessary, as much as we HATE to admit it. The second birth is impossible without the death of our own determination.
"I said, ‘I have been banished from You sit yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’" (From the depths of guilt, separation from God’s love, the pit of hell on earth...Jonah knew God was there.)
"The engulfing waters were at my throat, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of te mountains, I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in...forever." (sin, the unholy life of self-centered focus, ...and damnation)
"But You brought me up from the pit, O Lord, my God. When my life was ebbing away (in lonely, helpless hopelessness), I remembered You, Lord, and my prayer rose to You, to Your holy temple. (to the mercy seat of protection and grace, in God’s holy presence)
"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
"But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you (myself, my will, my all)
"What I have vowed, I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord."
Verse 10: "And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land."
Such a hard thing for us. Offering a sacrifice of praise amidst struggle. Who ever accepts their depression and trial as a rescue attempt from their Father? Jonah was spared twice! Once when he was sent to the sea’s deep grip where he had nowhere else to go; God carried him in the belly of a whale (a lost soul, floundering, too limp to resist anymore). The more recognizable saving of Jonah from out of the depths onto safe dry land (when the trial snaps us to!) Both were necessary, as much as we HATE to admit it. The second birth is impossible without the death of our own determination.
