What do you put your hope in? Don’t put your hope in people. People will disappoint you. Parents will disappoint you. Children will disappoint you. Friends will disappoint you. Don’t put your hope in technology. Don’t put your hope in any human solutions. Don’t put your hope in money. Money will fail you. Money will disappoint you. Don’t put your hope in religion. Put your hope in Jesus Christ, and don’t lose hope.
Practical Principles
- Despite Jonah’s lousy witness, the sailors still believed. They were awestruck by the Lord’s great power and they offered Him a sacrifice and bowed to serve Him. Sometimes even when we’re messing up, God can still use us.
- Before we can see an awakening on the outside, we need to have a personal revival on the inside. If it happens to us it can impact others. It cannot happen through us until it first happens to us. So it has to be real to us.
- Jonah prayed the Word of God. Eight times he quotes from the Book of Psalms. It’s a good idea to quote Scripture when you pray. Why? To remind God of what He said? No. To remind you of what He said.
- Jonah memorized the Word of God. He didn’t have a scroll to read from in the belly of the great fish. He had the Word of God written in his heart. So should we.
- Jonah didn’t ask for deliverance; he praised God instead. Does the Bible say to give thanks unto the Lord because you feel good? No. It says, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His mercy endures forever.” Even when things are bad, God is still good. So you can give praises to Him because of that.
Relevant Reminders
- Sometimes we unsuccessfully try to fix our own problems, when instead we should be crying out to the Lord for help.
- God allowed Jonah to be swallowed because He loved Jonah and He wanted to get his attention. He wanted to bring him back to Himself.
- We can pray anywhere, anytime, and God will be able to hear it.
- An acronym for HOPE is Holding On with Patient Expectation.
Applicable Actions
The story of Jonah is like the story of the cross. Sometimes people will say, “Show me a miracle and I would believe.” Jesus performed a lot of miracles. He restored sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He cured people of incurable leprosy. He even raised people from the dead. But the best sign He gave us was “the sign of Jonah.” As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, the Son of Man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” He died, was buried, and was resurrected again—for you and me.
