Seeing's believing?

Are the Bible stories real or just someone’s imagination? Here is the Bible account of a man named Jonah being swallowed by a whale and then spewed up onto the beach.

One day long ago, God’s Word came to Jonah, “Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.”

But Jonah got up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish – as far away from God as he could get.

But God sent a huge storm at sea, the waves towering.

The sailors were terrified. They called out in desperation to their gods. They threw everything they were carrying overboard to lighten the ship. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship to take a nap. He was sound asleep.

The captain came to him and said, “What’s this? Sleeping! Get up! Pray to your god! Maybe your god will see we’re in trouble and rescue us.”

Then the sailors said to one another, “Let’s get to the bottom of this. Let’s draw straws to identify the culprit on this ship who’s responsible for this disaster.” So they drew straws. Jonah got the short straw. Then they grilled him: “Confess. Why this disaster? What is your work? Where do you come from? What country? What family?”

He told them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship God, the God of heaven who made sea and land.”

At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, “What on earth have you done!” As Jonah talked, the sailors realized that he was running away from God. They said to him, “What are we going to do with you – to get rid of this storm?” By this time the sea was wild, totally out of control.

Jonah said, “Throw me overboard, into the sea. Then the storm will stop. It’s all my fault. I’m the cause of the storm. Get rid of me and you’ll get rid of the storm.” But no. The men tried rowing back to shore. They made no headway. The storm only got worse and worse, wild and raging. Then they prayed to God, “O God! Don’t let us drown because of this man’s life, and don’t blame us for his death. You are God. Do what you think is best.”

They took Jonah and threw him overboard. Immediately the sea was quieted down.

The sailors were impressed, no longer terrified by the sea, but in awe of God. They worshiped God, offered a sacrifice, and made vows.

Then God assigned a huge fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the fish’s belly three days and nights.

Stop right there… The story of Jonah actually being captive in the belly of a big fish for three days sounds hard to believe, but look what I found on Facebook this week …

… its not so hard to believe a man inside a big fish…

Then Jonah prayed to his God from the belly of the fish. He prayed:

“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God. He answered me. From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’ You heard my cry.

You threw me into ocean’s depths, into a watery grave, With ocean waves, ocean breakers crashing over me.

I said, ’I’ve been thrown away, thrown out, out of your sight. I’ll never again lay eyes on your Holy Temple.’

Ocean gripped me by the throat. The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight. My head was all tangled in seaweed at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root. I was as far down as a body can go, and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever – Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive, O God, my God!

When my life was slipping away, I remembered God, And my prayer got through to you, made it all the way to your Holy Temple.

Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love. But I’m worshiping you, God, calling out in thanksgiving! And I’ll do what I promised I’d do! Salvation belongs to God!"

Then God spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on the seashore. Jonah 1 & 2

We can decide we don’t believe the story because it seems too hard to believe but the fact is …

The Bible is a history book – a record of stories from people who were there to tell their story. The same story is told by many people, its not a fantasy told by people to gain some kind of benefit for themselves.

What would they gain from telling such a story?

In the Bible God reminds us:
Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another – showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.2 Timothy 3:16

That was certainly the reason for Jonah’s little 3 day vacation.

The Bible also says we aren’t as wise as we can sometimes imagine we are:

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.1 Corinthians 3:19-20

To be truly wise, we must acknowledge that God is in control:
“True wisdom and real power belong to God; from him we learn how to live and also what to live for. Job 12:7-13

Accepting God’s advice equals true wisdom which brings us life the way we were meant to live it – life with no regrets and a confidence that no matter what happens, all will be well.

Please pass it on to your friends because those who you love may be glad you did.

2014 – From Elaine Costin – Capturing Sunrise © Copyright 2013 Elaine Costin All Rights Reserved
While everything The Holy Spirit inspires me to write is under full copyright protection, the only purpose is to make sure people copy it right. As long as you always clearly reference it as my work including my copyright statement at the bottom, keep it in its entirety without editing of any kind and link it to https://www.capturingsunrise.com/blog as the source, you have my permission to copy, print, and distribute my writings freely, as long as it is not for profit. If you wish to use my writings in a profit making capacity then permission must be granted by the author.