DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 35; Daniel 2:24-49; 1 John 5
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly. Jonah 2:1
When Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, his tongue overflowed with the thoughts of his heart. And what was in his heart? There are echoes of psalms in his prayer—he mentions fleeing from God’s presence, crying for help from the depths of Sheol, being cast into the depths of the seas. He ends his prayer in psalmist fashion as well, “I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Ps. 116:17). The result? “The Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (Jon. 2:10). Let me like Jonah know my Bible well enough to speak truth to my own soul when I am overwhelmed with darkness or the disciplining hand of God’s waves and billows. —Marilyn MacMullen
Holy Bible, book divine, precious treasure, thou art mine;
Mine to comfort in distress, suffering in this wilderness. —J. Burton Sr.