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Friday, January 25, 2013

Devotion: Making it on my own

"Pick me up and throw me into the sea," Jonah said, "and it will become calm.  I know that it is my fault that the great storm has come upon you."
"Instead the men did their best to row back to the land.  But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.  Then they cried out to the Lord…"  (Jonah 1:12-14)
 
The above excerpt is from the book of Jonah.  (This is a great short story to read if you have 5 minutes).  At this point, Jonah is a boat full of men and storm is raging around them because Jonah had fled from God's calling.  Knowing he was in the wrong, he told the sailors to throw him overboard…Interestingly, they choose not to heed his advice.  Instead they decided to take the matters into their own hands.  And started rowing.  The result…they went nowhere.  In fact, it caused the sea to get even more violent.  It was at this point, that the sailors "Cried out to the Lord" for the first time.
                Do you feel like a storm is raging around you, whether of your own making or of someone else's?  And so you figure the best option is to just dig and grit it out.  To start doing what you know how to do (they were sailors, so rowing woulda been their skill set).  In the end, all that will happen is that you will end up tired; perhaps the storm will get worse.  Even when we do our best, ultimately it is not "good" enough.  Because we are in need of a Savior. 
                Whether we say something rude to a friend, and each apology makes the hole deeper…whether we find ourselves under a pile of bills, and try to scheme our way out only to find ourselves burdened more…whether we are wanting to pretend that everything is a-okay, but know if we try to balance one more responsibility it will all come crashing down.  This short excerpt reminds us, rather than waiting until the storm breaks our spirits, we should cry to out to the Lord first.



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