I'm in the belly!

A few weeks ago now (sorry for my slowness!) I wrote a little bit about Jonah (Why why Jonah why?)  and I thought I would share about my main encouragement I got from the weekend learning about Jonah.

"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" Jonah 2v5-6  

Here Jonah is literally at the lowest of the low - I mean he is saying these words from inside a fishes gut!  He had  been as far from God as he could have been.  Jonah actually tries to flee from God.  

But then Jonah prays to God and says these words:

"When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple." Jonah 2v7

Now I had never really thought about the 'in the belly' bit of Jonah before.  I am so used to seeing children's picture bible story books on it where you see Jonah in slightly ripped clothes sitting in what looks like quite a pleasant warm comfortable pink bouncy castle.  I even remember seeing one image where Jonah was sat on a wooden chair inside the belly!! (All the images to the right are ones I found on google which I thought were the funniest bad ones!)

Thing is that is totally not what the case would have been - Jonah was inside a fish for 3 whole days.  It would have been dark, rank, disgusting and very stinky!  He would have been surrounded by and sat amongst bits of dead fish and sea debris.  Absolutely AWFUL!

Jonah had seriously reached the pits - the lowest of the low!  Things couldn't really have got any worse

Yet what we read next in the bible is surprising (well I found it surprising anyway!) 

"But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you."  Jonah 2v9

Jonah is still in the belly here but he is filled with a deep sense of joy.  That seems crazy - how can you be deeply and genuinely joyful when you are sitting amongst caucuses in a fishes belly, serious?!?  Jonah is so filled with joy that he is shouting grateful praise.

This is pretty hard to understand - how can someone in such a rank situation with what seems like nothing to be thankful for be filled with such joy?  He has joy that can only come from God.  Such a deep and solid joy that is not dependant on circumstances, emotions or us, but on God and what He has done for us.

And to be honest I really feel as though I am in the belly.  My situation feels pretty rank. Life is hard, tough and painful.  And its been a lot longer than 3 days (1302 days on crutches so far!)

Even when Jonah was in the middle of a fish in the depth of the sea and called out to God, God heard him.  God didn't ignore Jonah but God did not make the fish spit Jonah up straight away - He waited 3 days.  I don't know why He waited 3 days, but He did and He was in control the whole time.

Yet it was inside the belly that Jonah was so joyful - he wasn't miserable and then once God had rescued him and taken him out of the nasty situation then joyful and thankful.

It is the same for me - life is so tough and hard and painful yet I am not miserable - I am joyful.  I often feel like giving up and like I want to cry, I often feel sad, but I am still joyful.  Jonah called out to God from the deep and God heard him and listened.  I can cry out to God whilst I am feeling rubbish and he hears me and listens to me and is filling me with His joy day after day.