Daily Devotional for Sunday, July 26

Jonah in Transit

“And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land,” Jonah 2:10.
On many of my short-term mission trips, I have been put into some precarious positions as it pertains to transportation. I have been told to sit on the back corner of a flatbed truck and try to hold the luggage from falling off while I was the one in danger of falling off. I have been in small, cramped vehicles with my knees in my chest and rode for a long time and got to where I could not feel my legs. I have been on rivers in rain forests and broke down or ran out of gas at night while being far from our destination. Even with all of these situations, and more, the Lord knew exactly how to get me safely to my destination.
As Jonah had come to his senses and had prayed unto the Lord while being in the stomach of the fish, the Lord was working the whole time. The Lord knew that even though Jonah had tried to run from His calling, instructing him to go to Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-3), the Lord also knew how to get him back on track. Once Jonah had humbled himself before the Lord and prayed (Jonah 2:1-9), the Lord knew it was time to get him out of the fish and place him back on the land so he could go to Nineveh (verse 10). Somewhere during his time in the fish’s belly, Jonah had repented of his rebellion and had resolved that he would go to Nineveh. How much easier would it have been to just go to Nineveh when the Lord had called instead of running in the opposite direction. Either way, the Lord knew how to get Jonah to his destination.

REFLECTION
If you will just listen to the Lord the first time, your path might be all that much smoother. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).

Tim Chambers