God's Appointed "Submarine"

When Jonah went down to Joppa to flee from the Lord, he could not have guessed how far down he would get. He landed in the belly of a great fish after the sailors threw him overboard in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. What a predicament! But the news wasn’t all bad, because the Lord had prepared (appointed) the great fish to swallow Jonah (Jonah 1:17).

Jonah had not escaped the Lord’s sight, although he had tried to do so. The Lord’s eye was on his erring servant, and His hand was still evident in his life. He had prepared the great fish to save Jonah from drowning and to arrange a place of solitude where Jonah could rethink his decision to disobey Him, repent, and realign himself with the Lord’s will. Today, too, the Lord does what it takes to preserve us and persuade us to obey Him. Circumstances that initially appear to be disappointments may actually be His appointments.

Jonah prayed from the belly of the great fish. His voiced his “affliction” and confession to the Lord. Desperate circumstances became inspiring circumstances, and after three days in the belly of the great fish (Matthew 12:40), Jonah exclaimed, “Salvation is of the LORD) Jonah 2:9). That’s when the Lord “spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (v. 10).

Someone reasoned Jonah was an evangelical and the fish was a liberal. So, when Jonah cried, “Salvation is of the Lord,” the fish thought, “I can’t stomach this” and promptly vomited him onto dry land.