"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."
Jonah 1:17
The idea that the Lord had prepared this all ahead of time reminds me of how well He knows us, and how vast His knowledge is. God understands each of us on a level that is beyond our own ability to comprehend even ourselves and he really does, always, know how to save us and help us. I think maybe Jonah thought at the time that the choices he faced were different than the consequences that God could clearly see for each option... he prepared for Jonah's poor choice, but Jonah could have saved himself a lot of grief by listening to God in the first place.
So it often is with us. It is always better to listen to God the first time, but if not, God always prepares a way for us to come back to him. It isn't always a whale waiting to save us from our poor life choices, but if we can let go of our stubbornness and rebellion for a bit and reach out to God, he will be there to help.
Today, instead of getting ourselves into an impossible position by walking away from God, and having to live with the consequences (whale or not), let's take the lesson of Jonah to heart and make the choice to listen to God's wisdom in the first place. He knows every detail of the universe, and he knows what choices will bring us to happiness and to ruin. Let's stick with him and choose happiness, even if our own current desire is to sail away from our responsibilities. God knows the end of that journey and we do not. His option will always be better.
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