Lessons From JonahSample

Rescued but Responsible 

The longest anyone has held his or her breath underwater is 22 minutes. Impressive! How long did Jonah hold his when he was thrown overboard? Most people can only last two minutes or less. This means God had to ACT to save Jonah!

“The Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17)

At my house, we have this Precious Moments picture of Jonah. He’s sitting in a living room inside the belly of the fish. Smiling. Relaxing. Sipping tea. No! He was submerged in stomach bile that was eating away at his skin and getting in his eyes. He likely didn’t sleep. For three days, he endured that unique hell, but it was better than literal hell. He was rescued but still responsible.

We sometimes think that when God forgives us it should make life easy. God’s forgiveness heals our relationship with Him, but there’s still the need to repair our relationships with others. When life doesn’t get easy after we confess, we tend to blame God. But it’s not His fault; the mess is ours. 

Who have you hurt or strained your relationship with? 

Go talk to that person and confess. It’ll take work. It’ll bring pain, but there will be gains. You will gain true peace when you work to reconcile with others. You’re forgiven by God. Seek forgiveness from those you’ve hurt. When you do, that’s when true peace prevails!