Saturday, March 03, 2012

Jonah's prayer


This morning I had the great honor of speaking at our mid-school bible conference. I really love these kids. They are all struggling with identity and acceptance, but they are awesome kids.

My portion of the weekend was chapter 2, Jonah's prayer. I have taught through it a number of times, but had never really seen one line of this prayer before. It's in verse 8. Here is the passage that caught my imagination,

"Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

It suddenly struck me that what Jonah is describing is our amazing ability to create idols in our lives. When we set anything before God we miss the grace that could be ours. That very thought has my mind racing as I think about how often I miss grace simply by trying to please God my way. I set up worthless idols that do nothing and I completely miss all that God has done for me, I miss his grace completely!

It's amazing the insights that come while you're waiting in the stomach of a big fish.

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