My Favorite Bible Verse

Filed Under Pastor's Blog by Pastor Meredith

Jonah 2:10, “Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.”

If I ever write an auto-biography, the title of the book is going to be “Spewed by God: Stories of Faith and Life.” I don’t know about you, but there are plenty of moments in life that I feel like I’ve been spewed up!

Here is a quick recap of the events leading up to Jonah’s spewing: God told Jonah to go to speak to the people of Ninevah. Jonah doesn’t want to do it, so he runs in the opposite direction. He jumps on a boat, gets caught in a terrible storm, is thrown overboard into the sea and gets swallowed by a fish. He sits in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights and then realizes that he has made a mistake by defying God. He prays to God. God listens and then God speaks to the fish and spews Jonah out on dry land. Then, God tries again to send Jonah to Ninevah.

I draw comfort from the biblical characters of old who ran from God’s call. All those ordinary people who messed up and found themeselves in trouble. All those ordinary people to whom God gave second, third, fourth and sometimes even 100th chances. Yes, that’s the kind of God I need!

We rarely get God’s call right the first time and we often times find ourselves in trouble. Yet, God is always there, ready to provide us with a safe place to sit for a while until we are ready to be spewed up and try again. Thanks be to God!