Are You Living in the Belly of the Whale?

How do you know if you’re living in the belly of the whale? What if, sometime ago, you ran from God, turned away from something He had called you to and ended up in a big, stinky fish? What if, over time, you grew used to your surroundings and, while not pleasant, became comfortable, complacent, and content to simply remain there? You know, hung some curtains from the ribcage, tossed a throw rug over the pyloric sphincter and decided this wasn’t so bad after all.

What if, right now, you are living in a place that is putrid, rank and disgusting in the eyes of God, but you’ve grown oblivious to your surroundings? How do you open your spiritual eyes to see the disobedience that has become your snug abode? How do you escape the prison of your own sinfulness when you’ve ignored it for so long you hardly recognize it as sin anymore?

The story of Jonah is one we learn in Sunday School at an early age, but as adults we often overlook its application to our lives. In Jonah 1:12, Jonah tells his companions in the midst of the storm, 12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” The lesson for us is to recognize our fault and be willing to accept the consequences – however terrible they might be. Do we do that? Do we say, “I know that it is my fault…?” Do we bear the consequences or do we look for any way out of them we can find? Any quick-fix, short-cut, have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too means of escape?

The second lesson we learn is how to react once we recognize where we are. Jonah cried out to God, knowing that God was sovereignly responsible for his current circumstances, and God was solely capable of changing those circumstances. Jonah cried out,

7 “When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
8 “Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’”

He turned back to God, and praised God with confident assurance that God would deliver him from these circumstances. He prophetically knew that God would provide him the opportunity to not only obey but to testify of God’s greatness through and in the midst of his obedience.

Lord, help me to take a look around and recognize any fishy odor! Help me to never grow complacent in my sin, but to repent and return whole-heartedly to you. Help me to testify to your greatness through radical obedience that causes others to ask for a reason for the hope that lies within me. Forgive me for all the times I've run the other way instead of obeying Your leading.

I am a Friend of God or Nearer My Lord to Thee?

Do you remember as a young child trying to get as close as you could to your daddy? Scooching up next to him on the sofa, with his arms around you, and just snuggling on a cold, winter day?

Have you ever thought about doing the same thing with God? What would it be like to live in a mindset of 'how close can I get to Him' instead of content to be at arms length?

I just completed Beth Moore's study of the Tabernacle, A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place, and I am almost speechless. Those who know me will testify how rare that is!

I don't want to give anything away that might discourage you from going through this study, which I think may be the best study I've ever done, but I will say that I am left with this image and with this desire on my heart - to make each day about getting closer to God than the day before.

Too often, we who call ourselves 'little Christs' (the literal translation of Christian), content ourselves with a relationship that is at arm's length. Like a friend whom you invite over for a meal - but don't let them go upstairs! Heaven forbid they see that our beds aren't made and our shower looks like a biology experiment!

We'll chat with him about our friends and their needs, even about some of our own concerns, but our relationship hasn't gone any deeper in years. We're still praying for the same issues in our life that we prayed about five years ago. We're still confessing the same sins and wondering why we can't seem to overcome.

We've been content with our salvation. Content to know that we are saved. Content to know that we're forgiven. Content to know that we will be in heaven when we pass from this earth.

But why are we satisfied with that when God offers so much more?

Have you ever seen a child who was content to be held by their father at arm's length? Can you imagine a bride content to have her groom shake her hand at the end of the wedding ceremony? Or ten, twenty or fifty years later?

Yet we allow ourselves to be content with the same relationship we've had with God since the day we were saved. We're content to tell folks about the change He wrought in us many years ago, instead of the change He wrought TODAY.

We may have eternity to spend with God, but why wait for eternity to begin growing in your relationship with Him? Each new day is a new opportunity for us to learn more about Him, to allow Him to bless our lives more with His presence, and for us to draw nearer, my Lord, to Thee.