26th.: Jonah Runs
Jonah the prophet of Amittai, had gained notoriety for successfully prophesying that King Jeroboam
would restore the coast of Israel (see 2nd Kings 14:25).
But, modern readers know Jonah better as the prophet who was swallowed by a whale.
The Book of Jonah begins with God telling Jonah to prophesy against the foreign city called Nineveh.
Instead, Jonah disobeyed, and went the other way in a ship.
This did not please God.
So God sent a storm to buffet the ship.
To save themselves from the intense storm, the sailors threw Jonah overboard.
God prepared a large, gaping-mouthed sea-creature (e.g. whale shark, giant grouper or baleen whale) to swallow Jonah.
Jonah then prayed, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. ...
I said I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. …
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came into thine holy temple.
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercies.
I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.” (Jonah 2:2-9). Sometimes, bad things happen to us,
because we disobey the Lord. In those cases, we must remember the Lord, and his mercies.
As Jonah referred to some past vow, we may need to turn our attention back to God,
sincerely repurposing to fulfill the vows or promises that we had vowed - even those vows we had forgotten.
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” Rev. 3:19a