Jonah Chapter 2

 Chapter Two

Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights inside of the big fish. Why did it take so long? What was he thinking the first 2 days? In my mind he was doing the same that I do, I really believe that he spent at least the first day trying to justify to God why he ran and why it was ok. I think he talked for hours and hours trying to explain why he was right. Then finally he was exhausted. How patient is God that he would listen for hours and maybe even days at us trying to justify our disobedience? Finally, after hitting the point of exhaustion, I think he took a nap. Maybe that sounds strange, but he was probably mentally and physically exhausted. I think he rested in some way and then got up and was ready to look at the other side. I use to get frustrated and go for a walk on the walking path by our house. While I was walking away from the house, I would think about all the reasons I was right in my frustration. Finally, I would get tired and realize that I still had to walk back. On the way back, I was finally open to thinking about why I was wrong. I believe that is what Jonah did. Finally, after thinking about everything he finally realized how wrong he was and that it was finally time to pray.  Obviously, being stuck in the belly of a large fish is way worse that the situations we find ourselves in, so if it took Jonah 3 days in his horrible situation, how long are we waiting in our situation before we pray? I heard a great preacher say that we use prayer as a last line of defense instead of the first. I believe that to be very true way too often in my life. 

Verses 2 and 10 are the verses I focus on when I read this chapter. I cried out, God answered! Then finally in verse 10 after a prayer of repentance, The Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out on the beach. When Jonah finally hit the beach what was he thinking? How often when we finally hit the beach do we not thank God for being on dry, stable land again? Chapter two for me is when I really start to feel close with Jonah, I really start to realize that God has had to put me in the belly of a fish a few times because I just wouldn't listen. Why do I have to get that far before I listen? Why do I struggle so many times before I shut up and pray? Hopefully typing this our helps me to realize much quicker in the future.

MBJ,

Joe

Jonah Chapter 1

 Chapter One

When I look at the book of Jonah as an adult, I think sometimes it's telling my life story.  God comes to you and gives you a direction, maybe the ending result isn't super clear, but he gives you a direction. We see what he wants and we run. While we are running, we are bringing down the people around us. No matter how much they try and help, We know what we are doing, but still, we keep dragging them down. We get to that point where we have to admit to other people that we aren't doing what we should be doing. Maybe it’s a small sin that we just can’t conquer or maybe it’s something we have been trying for years to stop doing like smoking or overeating. Either way, it's an issue that we know about and it's time to admit it. We know we can't do it on our own and we know we can’t keep dragging others down. It’s time to be thrown overboard. You would think that the process of being thrown overboard would be enough to wake up, instead we wait. What will God do now… 

MBJ,

Joe

Jonah

 As a child I remember reading in the bible about Jonah. The quick version of the story, God tells Jonah to go do something, Jonah decides to run instead. Jonah gets swallowed by a whale, then decides to do what God told him to do, THE END! When I got a little bit older I learned some new life changing information about the story, it wasn't a whale, it was actually a large fish. The moral of the story never changes though, Always do what God tells you to do. Then once you hit the age of about 14, you never read about Jonah again, because from a young age everyone was told that Jonah is a little kids story. Sadly, I think that is where for most people the story ends. We never go back and read the book again, because well, we are not a child anymore and that story is only for children. Years ago, I decided it was time to go through and read the whole bible, up until then, I was pretty sure that after going to church my whole life I had read the whole thing, but I just wanted to be sure.

What I found out was that reading children's stories as an adult brings a motivation towards the bible I had never felt before. Those stories weren't just for little kids, they had lessons that I needed to hear. That leads me to right now, soon I will publish my very first full blog post about the lessons that I learned from Jonah. From there, hopefully I will continue to go over the whole bible, not just the children's stories in a way that most adults never get the chance to do. 

MBJ,

Joe