Day 10 - Wednesday, October 21st
LIFE Journal
This Week's Memory Verse
Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in His commands. Psalm 112:1
Devotional
Most of us have found ourselves in the middle of a desperate situation. Like a 9-1-1 call, we cry out to God in hopes that He will hear us. So many of the prayers of the people found in scripture are just that, frantic pleas from God’s children who have found themselves in the midst of the impossible.
Jonah was no different. He was a man given a very specific task from the Lord. But sometimes in life, you know what you’re supposed to do but you just can't seem to get yourself to do the thing God is calling you to do. Jonah literally ran the other way at the commissioning the Lord gave him to bring a message to people he just didn’t like. In his disobedience, he found himself in a predicament, stuck in the belly of a whale.
Now, chances are you can’t quite relate to that scenario, but we’ve all felt the desperation arise when you feel like there is no escape and that the situation at hand is hopeless. Prayers that result in those moments are often some of the most raw and real we ever pray.
“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.”
Jonah 2:1-7 NIV
You know what happened next after the prayer of a desperate man in the bowels of a giant fish? "And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." (Jonah 2:10 NIV)
Maybe you’re still in the belly of the whale because you haven’t called out to God. Notice that even in the throes of a difficult time, Jonah took the time to recall all the ways in which God had been faithful in times before. Jonah remembered all the previous times God had saved him and God heard his prayer.
Think On This Verse:
My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. Psalm 6:3-9 NIV
Ask and Answer:
Am I in a desperate situation right now? Have I cried out to the Lord? In what ways has God been faithful to me in the past? How can that help me through a difficult season? In what ways has my sin got me here? Maybe sin hasn’t gotten me in the situation, but are there ways in which my response has not been what it should?
Jonah was no different. He was a man given a very specific task from the Lord. But sometimes in life, you know what you’re supposed to do but you just can't seem to get yourself to do the thing God is calling you to do. Jonah literally ran the other way at the commissioning the Lord gave him to bring a message to people he just didn’t like. In his disobedience, he found himself in a predicament, stuck in the belly of a whale.
Now, chances are you can’t quite relate to that scenario, but we’ve all felt the desperation arise when you feel like there is no escape and that the situation at hand is hopeless. Prayers that result in those moments are often some of the most raw and real we ever pray.
“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.”
Jonah 2:1-7 NIV
You know what happened next after the prayer of a desperate man in the bowels of a giant fish? "And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." (Jonah 2:10 NIV)
Maybe you’re still in the belly of the whale because you haven’t called out to God. Notice that even in the throes of a difficult time, Jonah took the time to recall all the ways in which God had been faithful in times before. Jonah remembered all the previous times God had saved him and God heard his prayer.
Think On This Verse:
My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. Psalm 6:3-9 NIV
Ask and Answer:
Am I in a desperate situation right now? Have I cried out to the Lord? In what ways has God been faithful to me in the past? How can that help me through a difficult season? In what ways has my sin got me here? Maybe sin hasn’t gotten me in the situation, but are there ways in which my response has not been what it should?
Prayer
God, in those moments where I feel completely stuck and hopeless, remind me to cry out to you. Show me how my sin, whether in the moments leading up to my current circumstances or in my response to what I am facing, has left me sitting in the belly of a whale. Teach me to reflect back on your past kindness to me and hear my heart’s cries. Amen.