Storms and Whales

[bluidkiti]

Storms and Whales

Jonah 1:3, “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” For years, skeptics have questioned the Bible for the account of a man being swallowed by a giant fish and living to tell the tale. But in 1891, off the coast of the Falkland Islands, a man on a whaling vessel named James Bartlett fell overboard. As he bobbed in the ocean, he was swallowed whole by a huge whale. A day and a half later, the crew on his boat caught a large whale and when they began the process of disemboweling the animal, they saw movement in the whale’s stomach. They cut it open and found James Bartlett in there. His skin had been bleached white and his hair eaten off by the gastric juices of the whale, but he was alive. He revived and was able to talk of his experience. No doubt Jonah’s physical appearance, after three days and nights in a whale’s belly, strongly reinforced his message to his audience in Nineveh. The prophet’s bleached white skin and hairless body would have been quite an attention getter. Yet running beneath the whole of the Old Testament book bearing Jonah’s name is a mighty current of grace. When Jonah sought to evade his sovereign commission by attempting a 2,000 mile trek in the opposite direction, he discovered that it is a ridiculous notion to think that one can “flee . . . from the presence of the Lord.” Whether it is through His use of storms or whales, God has a way of lovingly bringing His children back on course. What about you, my friend? Are you on the run today? Like Jonah, do you think you can run away from His presence? Jonah left Israel, thinking he would dock in Spain; instead, he sailed squarely into the providential arms of a merciful God. You may think you are getting away from God’s purpose and destiny for your life, when in fact the storm you are presently experiencing is God’s way of bringing you back into His will, to fulfill His destiny in you, and use you for His glory, for this and each new day.

http://www.bigcreek.org/archives/2736