"But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord."
Jonah 2:9
This is the last verse before God has the fish release Jonah from his trial within its "belly of hell" (Jonah 2:2), and what strikes me here is that Jonah came around to thankfulness, even in that horrible situation. He was thankful to still be alive and able to repent (Jonah 2:6). He remembered to call upon the Lord, admitting that he was wrong, that he didn't deserve the mercy that he was asking for (Jonah 2:8), but that he was again willing to fulfil the covenants that he had made with the Lord.
The sacrifice here I think is Jonah's ego... his pride in thinking that he could do whatever he wanted to do in going against the Lord's will, and yet still enjoy the blessings of being in the Lord's favor. I think that is probably the same sacrifice that we often come up against in our lives. We rebel against God, but still want his blessings... or we want so much for things to be a certain way, and get angry with God when things don't work out the way *we* wanted them to... but in truth, and as we frequently learn after the fact, God knows best, and his will is always a better way than ours, and will lead us to happiness far greater than we could find alone.
Today, on this day of Thanksgiving, let's remember Jonah in his personal hell, and learn his lesson. Let's look to the Lord, who wants to save us and to bless us, but also needs us to do our small part and learn, and repent. Let's be thankful to God who saves our lives and gives us another chance, and who helps us become better people than we ever thought that we could be, if we trust him and work with him to improve.
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