What's In Your Whale's Belly?

[Deborah McCarragher]

“I just don’t care anymore!”   “Why do I always have to be the one to apologize?”   “I’m tired of walking on egg-shells all the time!”

 

Does this sound familiar?  Is it always all about you?  What’s deep inside your whale’s belly? 

 

Has God allowed you to remain in a chamber of discomfort as He has a personal dialog with you about your disobedience?  Have you taken an inventory of the messy, stinky and seaweed strewn attitudes you possess? What about those tiny little creatures bobbing up and down in the gastronomical juices of your future plans.  There might even be an old shoe or sea creature carcass lodged in your circumstances.  Are you still sitting in the dark - waiting for a rescue plan?

 

God will get your attention – one way or another… 

 

Consider the story of Jonah…

He was a contemporary of Jeroboam II of Israel (the southern kingdom) during the nation’s divided history.  He is mentioned in II Kings chapter fourteen as God’s servant Jonah the son of Amittai of the tribe of Zebulun, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.  That is an area roughly three miles north of Nazareth in lower Galilee, making Jonah a prophet out of the northern kingdom. 

 

Assyria had gained a legendary reputation of being one of the cruelest empires in the ancient world.  Graphic accounts of their torture and cruelty have been found in Assyrian records from the ninth and seventh centuries B.C. 

 

Jonah was fiercely devoted to his people and did not want to do anything that might contribute to Assyria’s thriving empire.  God called him to preach repentance to the wicked King and his subjects in the capital of Nineveh.  Nineveh was founded by Nimrod, great-grandson of Noah (Genesis 10).  However, Jonah was unwilling to be a foreign missionary to a people towards whom he could feel nothing but bitterness and contempt.

 

When God commanded him to go to Assyria’s thriving city of sin and debauchery to have a revival service Jonah not only refused – he turned and went in the opposite direction!  Silly old Jonah – thinking he could either outrun or hide from the Almighty.  But don’t you and I do the same thing when we’re called to do something difficult or unpopular? 

 

Well – God had no trouble locating Jonah on a ship bound for Tarshish by way of Joppa.  The Lord sent out a great wind on the sea and the ship was tossed to and fro - ready to break apart.  Jonah Chapter 1 says, “Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load.”  The text also tells us that Jonah was fast asleep – oblivious to the chaos on deck above him. 

 

The captain awoke him and pleaded with him to call on his God that they might not perish.  They cast lots to determine whose fault the calamity was, and it fell on Jonah.  After much discussion and pleadings from Jonah – they reluctantly threw him into the sea.  The sea became calm and the men feared his God. 

 

Jonah 1:17 says this:  “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.  And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

 

How long do you think it took Jonah to start praying?  What do you think he thought about while he sat in the large hollow of the whale’s stomach?  Do you think he thought about the men on board the ship who asked him, “Please tell us!  For whose cause is this trouble upon us?  What is your occupation?  And where do you come from”?  After all, Jonah even admitted that the great raging tempest was because of him!  He actually told the crew to throw him overboard in order to save themselves.  

 

Below is an excerpt from  MISSION POSSIBLE  -   Chapter 4 – Painful Reality 

 

Whatever you do, don’t be a modern day Jonah and try to run away from your God appointed mission. There will be direct conflict with “your will” over what to do. The Prophet Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh for many reasons, but none of them were good enough for God. (Your reason won’t be either).  You must have a genuine love for his soul because he is your husband and that is who will spend eternity with you.

 

When Jonah had pity on the plant more than the inhabitants of Nineveh, God rebuked him saying, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow … and should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left?”  (Jonah 4:10-11). Likewise, with regards to your husband, have pity on his soul.  Jesus died as much for him as for you. Pray that God will enlarge your gift of compassion towards him. Pray for a “burden for his soul”. Pray for God’s mercy. Someone cared about your soul enough to point you to Christ.

 

 Our Lord Himself alluded to the historical accuracy of the story of Jonah in Matthew 12 and Luke 11 when He taught that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the body of the great fish, so should the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The wicked men of Nineveh had repented at the preaching of Jonah, while His own countrymen, scholars and religious rulers rejected His message. Jonah actually sacrificed himself for the lives of innocent men.  That is the marvelous picture of Christ we see in the story of Jonah.