July 30, 2023
Daily Devotion:
"Screaming to Obedience... "
Jonah 2:10
New International Version
10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Virtually every child knows the story of Jonah and "the whale." Because whales aren't actually fish, maybe it wasn't the gray, blue, or killer whale we see spouting off in all the drawings. But it's still the biggest fish tale ever told and-despite defying credibility-still the truest. As for the details, don't ask. It's God's job to sort out how Jonah could be inside that mammoth creature with both of them surviving. What's far more interesting is that God somehow commanded a fish to vomit! And the fish obviously obeyed! As did the superstitious sailors who threw Jonah into the tumultuous sea at his direction. And as did the heathen Ninevites when told to repent. The odds of a whole city of idolaters obeying a command to repent must surely be a bigger fish story than the “whale"! Did you notice who is left out of the list of the obedient? Jonah! Swarthy pagan sailors, unlikely heathen worshippers, and even a fish in the sea, all did what they were told to do. Only God's prophet had to be dragged kicking and screaming to obedience! Even then he resented the Ninevites for having followed God's command more eagerly than himself. Is there not a lesson or two here for those of us who consider ourselves to be God's people? The most obvious is that we should never ignore a call of God when we sense it, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. The second lesson is that God often calls us far outside of our comfort zones to reach people we tend to dismiss. Why waste time on them? But if God can fashion a fish big enough to swallow a prophet, he can create hearts big enough to accept a Savior!
The reluctant question is: What is God calling me to do that I would rather not do...but will?
