SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/01/2025 8:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “A Humble Condition” (PT-2)
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 2:1
Message of the verse: “Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the stomach of the fish…”
This morning I have to take my wife to get her first chemo treatment and it will take a long time for this to get done. It is my desire for those who read this SD to please pray for her, her name is Sandy, and I know that she would be thankful for your prayers.
John MacArthur writes: “Previously (and even subsequently, cf. Jonah 4:2), the prophet had resented Yahweh’s gracious disposition toward sinners. But in this moment, he eagerly embraced it, pleading with the Lord for deliverance (2:9b). Thus, Jonah prayed to his God, clinging to his relationship with the Lord, both as His prophet and as part of His covenant people. To this point, Jonah had talked about God (1:9), declaring to others truths about the Lord’s sovereignty, power, and omnipresence. Yet, he repeatedly acted in ways that contradicted his understanding of those attributes. But here, for the first time in the book, the text implies that Jonah not only feared the Lord (1:9) but also recognized Yahweh as his God.
“Jonah offered this prayer of desperation and devotion to God from the stomach of the fish, a precarious position that would have been incomprehensibly terrifying and nauseating. Jonah could not have known that God had brought him through the waters to the womb of the fish only for a short time in order to refine him and then restore his life (see discussion on Jonah 1:17). The belly of the fish was the place of God’s severe discipline, so that from that aquatic prison, Jonah would be profoundly humbled. As dramatically illustrated by Jonah’s unparalleled experience, the Lord regularly allows His children to face severe hardship (including the immediate consequences of their sinful actions), in order to break them of their sin and pride (cf. Dan. 4:37) and to produce spiritual life and growth in them (cf. Heb. 12:4-13). The fact that the prophet turned to Yahweh his God in prayer demonstrated that such divine discipline was accomplishing its intended effect.”
Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today: I believe that the important thing here is to know when God is disciplining me for things that I have need for His discipline. There are times like Job, when we are going through difficult circumstance when we have not sinned, but God is using those situations to cause us to trust Him, and to grow from those experiences.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord through this very difficult time that is going on in my family, that He will use it for His glory and for our good.
10/1/2025 8:21 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment