Something Fishy About This
Today’s Verse:
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. ~Jonah 1:17
When we say that something is fishy, we are implying that something is suspicious or not right. When something appears fishy, we become reserved about making a decision about that person or event. Jonah was supposed to go to Nineveh and cry against that city. Instead, we see him out on the sea and, later, swallowed by a great fish. There was something fishy about this.
We see Jonah’s station.
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” Jonah was a prophet of God. His station was to take God’s Word wherever God commanded him to go. He had God’s approval on his life. He was under a divine mandate to be God’s messenger. It was not the prophet’s prerogative to question God but simply to go and proclaim His message. A prophet with the wrong message or in the wrong place hurts his testimony and standing with God and man.
We see Jonah shirking.
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. Instead, he paid the fare and boarded a ship to go many miles away to Tarshish. He, sadly, was trying to run from God’s presence as if God didn’t see and know this.
We see Jonah’s storm.
“But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.” Jonah’s disobedience brought a storm that threatened him and the mariners that were with him. When we are disobedient, God will send a storm to shake up and even break up our life.
We see Jonah sleeping.
“But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.” Jonah was asleep when everyone else was panicking. Complacency and indifference in the life of a Christian hinder the work of evangelism, revival, and the power of God. Are you sleeping when you should be serving and winning souls? To the men on board that ship, there was something mighty fishy about Jonah sleeping when the storm threatened their safety,
We see Jonah spoiling.
“Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.” When the men on the ship realized who Jonah was, they also realized that the chastening hand of God was on Jonah. A backslidden Christian is a stumbling block to sinners and saved alike. Even to a lost person, a believer’s disobedience to God’s calling is a not acceptable.
We see Jonah swallowed.
“Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah told the mariners that if they threw him overboard, the storm would stop. As soon as they cast him into the deep sea, the storm did stop. Then, as they watched, a large whale swallowed him whole and ingested him into its belly for three days and nights. When that large fish, or whale, swallowed him, it testified to the mariners that Jonah was like a fish out of water. He was not where he was supposed to be, and the God he served was severely dealing with him. Jonah, after being in the belly of the fish for three days, came out smelling fishy. There’s always something fishy about a Christian who is running from God. Guard your heart and testimony. Don’t be someone who endangers yourself and others.
Have an obedient God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Ecclesiastes 1-4