The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
(from Jonah 2)
Are you facing engulfing waters that threaten your life? A cancer diagnosis or some other life limiting illness? A deepness from which you cannot escape and it feels as though seaweed is wrapped around your body, suffocating any hope in you.
I felt like that when I woke up from a brain bleed in September 2023 after 36 hours of unconsciousness. Everything seemed impossible and I had to just get through the day somehow from my hospital bed, relying on the care of nurses, and the love and prayers of others. I had a 15% chance of a full recovery. It was a matter of survival and trusting God for a breakthrough.
That sudden void casting a hulking shadow over our very existence is frightening. It really is. And it’s hard to muster any sort of faith in such circumstances. Jonah in this powerful prayer says the same. He’s been thrown overboard from a ship by sailors after running away from God and his body has dropped through the waves and into a deepness from which there is no escape. In his own words, he sinks down and the earth bars him in forever.
But then he has a moment of remembering God. He clutches what Jesus later calls a “mustard seed of faith” and recognises that the Lord is there to help him. Even though he lies in a pit in a situation of definite impossibility, he knows that God can do anything. He surrenders it all to him.
“From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,” he says, adding that God listened to his cry when he remembered the Creator. Prayers by this man, who rejected idols and put the Lord of heaven and earth first, were heard and honoured. Then he thanks God because – despite the situation – he knows that “salvation comes from the Lord.”
For me personally, God did a miracle and healed me. He stepped into an impossible situation, as he did with Jonah, and turned the situation around. Sometimes it’s hard to see that when you are bleeding in the fight, feeling bleak and pain in the throes of battle. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ DOES love you and His Holy Spirit has it all in hand. Trust Him.
Hold onto that mustard seed and give the situation to the Lord. Accept His love for you and let Him take hold of your predicament. Even if it does lead to what seems to be an ending you would rather avoid – remember that Jesus once said this: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.”
Simply trusting every day,
Trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.
Trusting as the moments fly,
Trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’er befall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.
Brightly doth His Spirit shine
Into this poor heart of mine;
While He leads I cannot fall;
Trusting Jesus, that is all.
Singing if my way is clear,
Praying if the path be drear;
If in danger for Him call;
Trusting Jesus, that is all.
Trusting Him while life shall last,
Trusting Him till earth be past;
Till within the jasper wall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.]
(‘Simply trusting every day’ by Edgar Page)
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