ஆதவன் தியானம்
✒ சகோ. எம். ஜியோ பிரகாஷ் ✒️
AATHAVAN MEDITATION
Regarding the prophet Jonah,
the Lord Jesus Christ also said, "for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND
THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40). Just as
the Father had a plan concerning Jesus Christ, the fish that swallowed Jonah
was a fish sent by God's plan. At the appointed place, Jonah would be thrown
from the ship, and God had commanded and sent the fish, saying, "Go there
and wait, and when he falls into the water, swallow him."
Today many preachers are
wrongly teaching that Jonah was disobedient to God. But the Scriptures do not
say so. There was a close relationship between God and Jonah. Jonah conversed
with God as one would converse with a friend. Jonah already knew that the
people of Nineveh would hear his preaching and repent, and that God would not
destroy them. While still in his own country, Jonah had spoken with God about
this.
That is why, when God spared
Nineveh from destruction, he said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said
while I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forestall this, I
fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God,
slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning
calamity" (Jonah 4:2). It is noteworthy that Jonah says, "Because I
knew that You would do this, I fled to Tarshish beforehand instead of going to
Nineveh as You had said." What a close conversation—look at it!!!
Jonah was a very great
prophet. He lived during the reign of Jeroboam the son of Joash. We read this
in the book of 2 Kings. "He restored the border of Israel from the
entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of
the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son
of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-Hepher." (2 Kings 14:25) Yes,
according to the word of Jonah, that king restored the lost borders of Israel.
Today we too are called to
live with a relationship with God like Jonah. Are we like Jonah, who spoke with
God and made decisions as one would with a friend? Is the relationship between
God and us like the relationship that existed between Jonah and God? If it is
so, God will not abandon us. The reason is that Jonah's inner disposition was
not to live in disobedience to God.
Do we share our problems and
thoughts with God like Jonah? If so, just as God had prepared a great fish to
save Jonah, God will also make a way to save us. Not only that, He will help us
to once again complete the divine plan concerning us that we failed to do and
left undone. Then we will change our journey toward Tarshish, where we have
been traveling until now, and journey toward Nineveh, which God has appointed
for us.
✦ 𝓖𝓮𝓸 𝓟𝓻𝓪𝓴𝓪𝓼𝓱 ✦
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