“But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
Jonah 2:9, ESV
These words of Jonah spoken as he is in the belly of the great fish still resonate today, at least for me. I don’t know about you, but I have done things and made a mess of things when I have tried to take care of it on my own. When I went to college, my goal was not to become a pastor, and I really didn’t live a god-honoring life. Yet, God was patient and called me back, but even after returning to the Christian faith, that old Adam crept in, and I continued to try and pursue the paths that I wanted to follow. Well, that is very similar to Jonah, who ran from the calling that God had given to him and almost cost the lives of many men on the ship he was traveling on to get away. Jonah was tossed overboard when he confessed his actions and was saved by God through a fish. God used this to bring him back to the path that had been chosen for him, and he ended up bringing salvation to a people he despised, the Ninevites. Jesus uses this to teach of what God was doing through Him, yet it wasn’t He who despised, but those whose hearts were more similar to that of Jonah when he waited and watched for the destruction of Ninevah. Jesus came so that we, who deserve destruction, can receive salvation and new life in our Lord and be restored.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.