Monday, October 9, 2017

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JONAH



(Jonah 1:1-17; 2:1, 10, Lk 10:25-3)
1.0. Jonah’s Escape
Image result for Jonah sleeping“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” The story of Jonah is quite dramatic. Hearing this, the young man planned an escape from the presence of God to Tarshish. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? (Ps 139:7-10). Jonah abandoned the journey God arranged for him and embarked on his own self-thought-out journey. He felt comfortable. He relaxed at the inner chamber of the ship and slept off. Then trouble ensued: the ship was about sinking! His journey was interrupted.

2.0. Arise and Pray
 The sailors in the ship started calling on their different gods. Their prayers were not answered since    the gods of the Nations are works of human hands...(Ps 135:15-16). Funny enough, the man of God was asleep. At that time when Jonah felt comfortable, when he thought he had escaped and was secure, he could not pray but slept off. But trouble woke him: “Arise, call upon your god...”
At the end Jonah was cast into the sea. A great fish swallowed him up. “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish.” Oh Yes! Now he did not need anyone to invite him to pray. The sleep of prayer vanished. Trouble had woken up his prayer life. 

3.0. In the Footsteps of Jonah
The footsteps of Jonah are all around and within us. How many realize the urgency of prayer when they are secure? We all walk in that footstep once in a while. On the other hand, escape from prayer is a tacit attempt to run from the Spirit of the Lord. Prayer becomes elusive at that moment when we want to hide ourselves or an aspect of our life from God. 

Like Jonah, God hears us every time, even when we call on Him from the dungeon of our wretchedness. As he prayed, the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land. It can never be too late to pray. “Pray constantly” (1 Thes 5:17). We cannot be sleeping under the ship of comfort when we ought to be praying. Prayer is our security.

Fr Jude Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Mater Domini Novitiate House
Enugu, Nigeria.
09/10/17

No comments:

Post a Comment