In the Belly of the Fish

“From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God… ‘In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me…I called for help and you listened to my cry…I will look again to your holy temple. The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; But you brought me up from the pit, O LORD my God…When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you…Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good.’ And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Jonah 2:1-10

Caring for my father-in-law in the severe stage of Alzheimer’s in my home has no doubt been one of the toughest experiences for which I have ever lived through. I feel that I have experienced some pretty difficult times with the drug addiction of my daughter, the death of my sister and my dad to name a few. This experience seems closer to the experience of Jonah and the whale. My home has become the belly of the great fish and daily survival has become the goal. For whatever reason, peace in this situation seems to elude me. I will find it temporarily only to misplace it much like a pair of glasses. I know that I need them to see, to navigate and to be successful but I seem to continue laying them down somewhere. The day always provides a search for peace.

It seems that peace for me is rental property instead of ownership. Maybe this is what God desires…our dependency on Him for peace as the Owner without looking towards ourselves. I am blessed to know that as Jonah sat perched in the belly he refers to looking ‘again’ towards the holy temple. This encourages me that I am not the only one who searches for peace again and again

As Jonah, I am fully aware that in my distress I call out from the belly of the beast (whatever our adversity may be) and ‘remember’ that God has commanded the fish to cough me up in previous situations and will command this fish to do the same. I take great comfort in this fact that God was faithful in the past in the belly of the beast and will rescue me once and for all from this big fish. Until then, I will remember that God rescues me daily emotionally and spiritually through His peace until He rescues me physically from this situation once and from all.

I must sing with a song of thanksgiving to Him and make good on what I have vowed. All of this and more will be accomplished by raising a prayer to the High Priest in the Holy Temple…again.