I’m using the calendar my friend Sheri got for me at the Siesta Scripture Memory Confernce that I wasn’t able to attend. I’ve started doing more memory verses this year and Word Filled Wednesday helps me visualize them better. More WFW can be found here.
More Then Sings My Soul Saturday at Amy’s.
I found worship in Jonah….never really thought about that before. Jonah, himself, stated “I worship (fear) Yahweh” (Jnh 1:9). Then because of his actions and testimony of his sin and the actions of God, the men from the ship “feared the Lord even more…offered a sacrifice…made vows.” (Jnh 1:16)
Then the big fish came along.
Do you believe it? Did it really happen or is it just a tale..an allegory or a parable?
Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings14:25 as being a servant of God that spoke to the people. So he was a real person.
Jesus spoke of Jonah…the sign of Jonah…as being a sign of Jesus’ time in the belly of the earth (Matt. 12:39-41). Luke 11:32 also mentions Jesus talking about the sign of Jonah and the testimony of the men of Nineveh.
Could the sign of Jonah be the fish that has become known as a Christian symbol?
My thoughts this morning have been on Jonah’s days in the belly of the fish….how long did it take him to start praying?
In Chapter 1, Jonah did not want to do the will of God, so he ran from His presence. My study bible stated that “his narrow view of [God's] mercy may be a clue to why he thought he could escape God.” He didn’t believe God’s mercy should have been extended to everyone, therefore God was not capable of being everywhere…but we know that is not true. By the time he entered the ship he wanted to escape any way he could…through travel and through sleep and finally through death. He was sleeping so deeply that he didn’t know that a storm was raging. Then, when he realized the storm was because of him, he wanted to die or be killed.
Once he was in the water, we don’t have a time frame of how long he was there before the fish came along and swallowed him. Chapter 2:3 says that he was thrown in the depths, into the heart of the sea…that the current overcame him and breakers and billows swept over him….he was banished from His sight….I think right here is where the fish came along.
Too often we picture bible stories as they are presented in Sunday School and never go any further. Do you remember the images of Jonah kneeling in the stomach of a big fish….dry inside the whale, while it happily swim peacefully along?
But if you finish reading Chapter 2, you’ll find that it wasn’t smooth sailing, there was nowhere to kneel. He was engulfed, overcome, seaweed wrapped around his head, thrown to the foundations. If the big fish was a whale, they led a very active life…jumping and turning, splashing, fighting, just imagine the jarring Jonah would have taken.
When did he have time to kneel (or a place), he was struggling to keep his head above water and whatever else was inside the fish’s stomach. And at some point….he started praying. At some point….he called out to God….and worship was inside the belly of Shaol. No longer did he want to hide from God…no longer did he want to die.
My grandmother recently suffered a heart attack. She complained constantly that she wanted to just die. My father told her if she truly thought that, she would not have pressed the emergency button she wears to call an ambulance. I asked her how long it took her to finally push that button for help….2 days. She fought her pride for 2 days before finally giving in and calling out for help.
How long do we fight God’s will, fight our own battles, struggle against all the forces trying to pull us under before we finally realize that we can’t do anything without God and only He can save us? I pray that after studying Jonah, I don’t even get in the place where I’m running from God. He’s known for tracking down His children and getting their attention, in a mighty way!
More thoughts on this study at Let the Son Shine.
This post has several things going on….a memory verse…the beginning of a week long Bible study on the book of Jonah…a focus on worship..and a book review. (Update: if you visited earlier today, I had the reference wrong on my verse. It is Jonah 1:9 instead of Daniel….sorry.)
I’ve mentioned that I will be focusing on worship for an upcoming speaking engagement. I’m reading a book entitled Called to Worship by Vernon M. Whaley. It takes you through the entire Bible showing how God intended from the beginning for us to worship Him. I’ve really found this book useful as I prepare for the event. One of the great things is that I can jump around in the book or read it straight through.
When I started Called to Worship, I started at the beginning…which of course meant that I started with what worship is based on how God created worship in Genesis. Worship is defined as “reverence offered a divine being…act of expressing such reverence”. But before we can worship God, He must reveal Himself to us.
“God initiated the task of revealing Himself to man through Creation.”
God “placed within us the desire to know Him, fellowship with Him, love Him supremely – and worship Him.” We were made to worship, God made us to worship Him….we just sometimes turn this desire to worhsip to something not worthy of our time.
Called to Worship can be read in order, going straight through the Bible showcasing worship through the Old and New Testament, breaking it down by characters of the Bible and seasons of the people of God. It shows how the sins of the people of Isreal caused their worship to be in vain and worthless….just as it can become today. Or it can be used as I am using it tonight to focus on one particular area/character/time frame of worship, the minor prophets, Jonah to be exact.
The book’s goal is to led the reader into a greater love for God, thus causing a deeper worship. It can be used for individual study or as a textbook.
I’m using it tonight to begin my study of Jonah this week. Click here to join others focuing on Jonah in a one week Bible study at Let the Son Shine.
If you like the picture/verse, you might like Word filled Wednesday...check out more here.
And….the February issue of Exemplify has been released. Check it out. My book review of Wind Dancer by Jamie Carie is on page 30. But you’ll receive blessing with each turn of the page, before and after that.
My alarm will go off in 15 minutes. I’m thinking I could actually take a quick nap and then hit the snooze for another 15 minutes. I’ve been awake since 3am….reading….crying…being inspired.
I’m working on about 3 books that I’m doing reviews for right now. One is entertainment, one is motivational, and this one….it’s life changing. Reviews will come later, but for now, I encourage you to go ahead and prebuy I Will Carry You by Angie Smith.
One of my favorite bird is the red bird, Cardnal…the male to be exact. I love them and have little figurines and dishes with them on them. With the snow, they are really easy to see. I noticed a few little birds around the porch trying to find something to eat and put out some birdseed. I was rewarded with some red birds. (Can you see the little red dots in the tree?)
I tried to get a picture of them sitting on my porch, but everytime I opened the door, they flew away. I finally stood in the door, allowing all the cold air to come in, and got these pictures. But I wanted better pictures. All day I would watch for the birds to come and then run for my camera, off to the door…and then watch as they flew away.
Finally God stopped laughing at me long enough to speak to me.
Sometimes…His blessings are meant to be enjoyed in that moment. The memory of it will come back often…but for that one moment, be still…enjoy it. Stop trying to capture it in pictures or words….just stand at the window and watch the red birds play in the yard.
Sometimes we spend so much time getting ready to receive the blessing, that we miss most of it and only catch the tail ends…as it’s flying away.
For those you who gave me some advice on what to do with my “black” wall….since I can’t paint yet, I’ve improvised…what do you think?
It’s been a while since I participated in this but this snowy morning I’ve enjoyed visiting the different blogs and listening to music. I hope you enjoy this song. Please go to Amy’s for the full list of everyone participating.
Worship….what does that word mean to you?
I really want to know. In April I will be speaking at a women’s retreat for our association on this topic. So for the next couple of months, that’s going to be my focus.
What is strange, for the past couple of months, I have felt that this is something that I’ve needed to work on. So I would love to hear from my tens of followers what worship is to you….how you worship…what enhances your worship experience. Please let me know.
And if you would like to come to a retreat in Tennessee and stay at the beautiful Camp Linden located right on the Buffalo River, let me know. It’s always a wonderful experience. This year will be the 22nd year the retreat have been held. And Camp Linden has beautiful lodgings…it’s not your normal kids camp anymore.
In case you don’t follow me on Facebook, you might not know that today is my birthday. I’m glad to say that I am 46 years old. My mother just called me and shared some memories from that day.
My father was working the night shift at Ford Glass Plant. She had been having false labor for weeks and told him before he left for work that it was happening again. Daddy hadn’t been gone long before she realized that this pain was different. She called the doctor and he told her to come on in.
She said she couldn’t right then.
So like my mother. There is order and planning to everything.
Mother told the doctor that she would have to get someone to come watch my brothers and then get Daddy off work. The plan was to meet at Baptist Hospital at 2am…which explains why I wake up at that time almost every morning.
She doesn’t have any memories of my delivery (that she’s shared) other than during delivery, her leg charlie horsed and she has never forgiven me for that. Even today, she reminded me of it since it still does it…I always tell her that it’s a reminder to think of me and say a little prayer.
Waiting for me to arrive, Daddy asked her what they were going to name me if I was a girl (I have two older brothers). They decided on Debbie after I was born, but the nurse told them they couldn’t put nicknames on the birth certificate. They choose the Biblcal spelling for Deborah (I’m so glad) and never called me Debbie (I’m so glad!). Then they named me after my uncle, so my middle name is Gene (for Eugene) and no one has ever spelled that right.
I was (and still am) treated like a princess by my family….picked on terribly by my brothers….and loved by them all. God truly blessed me by allowing me to be a part of this family.
I’ve included a few images of those early years.
This is a picture of me and my cousin, Lance, who is exactly 2 weeks older than me….I’m crying. We’re holding hands. We’ve always had a special relationship and we still hold hands…but he is older than me and I don’t let him forget that.
I was in alot of beauty pagants as a child…and won! I’m not sure when I realized that I wasn’t winning because they weren’t beauty pagants but dress pagants and my mother was winning because of the dresses she had made that I was wearing.
Here is a picture of my grandmother, aunt, mother, me and my daughter this past fall.
Today the sky is gently covering my world in white…I plan on building a snowman with my children when we have a few inches on the ground and making some snow icecream.
I’m so glad you could share this day with me. Have some cake and ice cream…I intend too!
I finally got my pictures uploaded to my computer from Chrsitmas. It is so nice to have a real camera….my kids are great!
Click here to see the handmade Christams gifts.
And click here to see some of the family pictures.
I saw these two images today at This Week in Pictures. I was touched that the same symbol – outstretched arms – can mean many different things.
