Tuesday, May 24, 2016

The prophet Jonah was a rebel at heart, but in chapter 2 of his book he describes the prayer of faith as the only antidote to fatalism and folly. To study this chapter let’s use what I call the 4S or 4 step approach to Bible study. Start by spreading out all the information you find in the chapter before you. Then sort it into subjects. When you’ve done this structure the subjects into an outline. Finally, summarize what you find into applications to your own life. Jonah describes himself gasping for air, struggling with the ferocious currents in the sea as well as the seaweed he got tangled up in. When life was ebbing away God provided a great fish to swallow him and in a miraculous way preserve him for three days. The putrid mess he was in inside the fish is beyond description. But that was the extremity to which God had to let him go in order for some of his deep, down, inside convictions to surface. As he started praying those convictions began to emerge. His former confidence as a man of God returned as he cried out to God for help. As I looked at this information spread out before me I sorted it into four subjects which became the points of my outline: His condition, his convictions, his confidence, and his cry. All of this is found in his prayer as recorded in Jonah chapter 2. You too might feel as entrapped as Jonah was, hopeless and in despair, even of life. Let his prayer become a model for you to cry out to God. And don’t be surprised at the wonderful outcome when you cry out to God for help.