Why a fish?

Have you ever gotten help where you least expected?

May be it was a person who never had a kind word for you who helped you out in a financial time of need. Perhaps a hardened family member showed up to provide a should to cry on. Possibly a stranger stopped by while you were stranded on the side of the road and allowed you to use their phone or helped fix your car.

It's always neat to get an unexpected surprise. My heart is warmed by stories of strangers who stop to help others, even at great cost to their own lives. It shows that God is always working to restore what was lost in his creation when sin entered the world.

As I ponder the story of Jonah, a question pops into my mind:  Why did God send a fish?

Certainly God could have provided a rescue by other means.  He is God.  He could send a boat, a plank of wood or even a great wind to get Jonah back to shore.

Instead, he sends a great fish to swallow him whole.

That's a strange mode of rescue, but it's just what Jonah needed.

While Jonah sat in the dank darkness of that fish's gullet, he had no one to talk to but the Lord.  In Jonah 2, we see this beautiful prayer, written as a psalm, that Jonah recites to the Lord.  In the prayer, Jonah never asks for anything, but praises God for his rescue, recognizes his sin, and rededicates his life to God's service.

In those three days, God and Jonah reconciled their relationship. Jonah was once again restored as a prophet of the Lord, with whom God could speak to once again.

Had God provided any other means of rescue, perhaps the reconciliation wouldn't take place.  Jonah needed that time with the Lord, in the fish, to get his relationship back in order.

The same is true for us.  God desires a right relationship with us.  He wants to reconcile us to him.  He may not send a fish, but he does send other things:  financial crises, death, illness and conflict.

He ultimately send his son.  He knew, on our own, we could never reconcile with him. Our sin was too great. So, he sent Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died our death, and gave us his righteousness.  It allowed us to reconcile our relationship with him.

Why did God send a fish?  It's exactly what Jonah needed.

Why did he send a savior?  It's exactly what we need.

Will you accept God's reconciliation?

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