But God, I Don't Want To! Learning to Say Yes to God When It Doesn't Make Sense.Sample

In Jonah, Chapter 2, it says that Jonah prayed after being in the fish for three days. His running in disobedience led him straight into a fish, where he sat silently in the ocean's depths for three days. Then he prayed. It seems God put him in a three-day time-out to think about what he had done. All the parents out there just said Amen.

Despite our best efforts, the decisions that don't align with God's word typically lead us to frustration and exhaustion. Our judgment and focus can become so cloudy that we can't see anything clearly and keep making poor choices. Sometimes, we wait until we get so far into our disobedience or own path of destruction that God needs to put us into a time of discipline (a time-out) so that we can just sit in silence, that hushes the peer pressures, the lies, the insecurities, the fears, the temptations, the guilt, and the shame. In that silence and distress, we can realize that we need to cry out to him in surrender.

Jonah chapter 2 is a beautiful proclamation of worship. His heart posture has changed, and he's crying out to God, declaring his sins and God's righteousness and beauty. He had finally had time to clear his mind and realized how he had messed up and how much he needed God's salvation. He prayed about God's glory and goodness despite his sinful disobedience.

Turning from our self-focused decisions and declaring that God's ways are better than ours transforms us to look more like Christ. When we acknowledge his path as the one that we will seek, it activates our faith.

God desires us to be at the end of ourselves so that we can see the beginning of him.