Today I saw an abyss, a huge dark hole which went down to nothing. What a despairing place that could be. Jonah was in such a place when he was in the belly of a whale having been thrown overboard. He felt God had hurled him into this dark place and banished him from His sight. But then, Jonah chose to lift his despairing thoughts into thoughts of hope, hope in the very God who he felt had cast him down. He declared, "my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple....I will say, 'Salvation comes from the LORD' " (Jonah 2:6,9). At that point, "The LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land" (Jonah 2:10). We may well have feelings of despair and of sinking into an abyss but what are we choosing to declare? - 'I am going down' or 'Lord, Salvation comes from You'. When we choose the latter, our Lord will bring us up.
