I will Look toward Your Holy Temple

FROM: AUGUST 20 – 26, 2013

Topic: “I will Look toward Your Holy Temple” Jonah 2:1-10 There are many reasons to arrive at the bottom of the “stomach of a great fish”! We know that in Jonah’s case it was that he disobeyed God when he could have easily gone to the city of Nineveh and preach to the people, just as the Lord commanded him to. Like Jonah, the same could be happening to you, that like you’re probably running or perhaps you even feel as you’re about to perish in the fish’s stomach, when you can easily be very well and safe doing things the way the Father wants. The great problem to not obey is when you are full of insecurities, human logic, fears, hostilities and prejudgment. Besides all this, what mostly serve as a setback are our great commitments. All these ties weigh more than to decide to do what God asks; we pay more attention to all this and we don’t decide to cry out and obey our God. Jonah 2:2 “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.” We see in these verses that Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God from within the womb of the fish. Of course, that it was in his anguish that Jonah cried out to Jehovah. God will always hear the clamor of his children. He called God from “the depths of the grave”, because that’s where he felt he was. It was as if he cried out from the grave, the sepulcher, the place where one is like dead and no one to help. There wasn’t an opportunity there for Jonah to grab another ship to hide again neither did he have a ticket on hand to escape again to Tarshish. There he was completely alone in his great anguish his family was no longer with him, none of his loved ones. There was no one there who would say to him: “I’m here with you, don’t worry!” But, the greatness of all this is, that even when we are at the bottom of the depths of our suffering like Jonah was, feeling that we are already at the sepulcher, WE CAN SAY: “AND YOU HEARD MY VOICE!” With God there is no reason to faint! Jonah 2:3 “You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me” We should understand that when we are surrounded by darkness in the depth of bad circumstances, in the depths of the dark sea where the flow drags us and we do not have the strength to pull ourselves out from there, then we can and should reason that: WE LIVE IN GOD AND FOR GOD AND NOT FOR US. We come to think just like Jonah as in the verse 4: “…I have been banished from your sight.” We think that there is a final separation of God and that God does not want to have anything to do with us. That there is nothing else that can be done! That is a thought of the devil. Well, Jonah added with faith: “I WILL LOOK TOWARD YOUR HOLY TEMPLE.” It was that Jonah knew God. He knew that the place to seek God always would be at His Holy Temple.” He knew that God was indeed willing. That even though it may seem that we are at the end, in the depths of the grave, HIS TEMPLE IS STILL ACTIVE HERE ON EARTH AND IS NOT HIDDEN! ALLELUYAH! How distressed can we become! The soul gets distressed and it seems as we are perishing. Vs. 5 “The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.” The mind get disturbed, the seaweed got entangled in Jonah’s head, we also get entangled and the bad thoughts disturb us. Everything that is surrounding you fills your head and wants to overshadow God’s good thoughts. Then, desperation begins and one falls in the depth of the doubt and the spirit falls. We think it is the end. Vs. 6 “To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.” Instead of being at the height of the faith, of hope, courage and faith, we fall at the bottom, the lowest part of the hill when we should have already been at the top and remain there. It is as if every opportunity had vanished, as if all the doors were closed and there is no longer hope. But, Jonah continued to say: “But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.” That is: You pulled me from the sepulcher, you pulled me from death, from disgrace and put me in your arms! In God there is a way out, in God there is hope, in Him there is great love to deliver those who cry out to Him in anguish!

V. 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.” The afflicted soul wants to die in strength and in faith. How dark our soul can see everything! If our soul weakens, it will not allow us to see things clear. The soul makes the road dark, you feel alone, worried, anxious, as in death. Then, you need to lift prayer, seek an altar to pray, cry out, where you can weep before God and present your frustration to the One who can deliver you. Everything that your soul is screaming confront it in that prayer, in your clamor in front of the altar you have prepared and with faith proclaim as Jonah’s did: “YET I WILL LOOK AGAIN TOWARD YOUR HOLY TEMPLE! If your prayer is from the heart you will see this fulfilled in you: “…and my prayer was received by you in your holy temple.” Vs. 8 “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” The Devil will always seek the separation of God and the church. Then those who start to love the world abandon God’s mercy. They do so to seek illusory vanities (vanities that can produce an image or a false deceiving idea). Those who walk away will be deceived with a false illusion. And that is how they abandon their mercies. But Jonah did not do that, but rather he embraced God’s mercy and worshiped Him. Vs. 9 “But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” Sing, worship, cry out, and bless Him. Vs. 10 “And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Then, that is how I will be able to do what God demands from me. Because already my soul, my mind, cannot be deceived by anything and I will totally trust the One who called me. Amen.