Today’s Devotional: “The Road Back”

Have you ever thought that you’re too far gone for God’s help? Like you’ve sinned again and there’s no hope, or you’ve walked so far away there’s no hope of returning.

I love the expression that God is not only the God of the second chance, but the third, fourth, and as many chances that we need.

Jonah for three days thought he was too far gone, that he had moved so far away from God’s will that there was no hope of return. But God wasn’t finished with Jonah, and God’s not finished with you either.

Jonah’s road back was in a big fish under the sea.

“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:17)

This was not the end for Jonah, but the beginning. Jonah was taking a road leading away from God, but God designed a detour and a road back to Him.

There are things that happen in our lives where it feels like there’s no way back. Like Jonah we feel like we’re in the belly of a whale of a problem and there’s no hope left.

But it was then that Jonah prayed. It was there in the belly of a great fish, and after being worked upon by digestive juices that Jonah came to his senses and sought the Lord.

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. And he said: ‘I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.’” (Jonah 2:1-2)

For Jonah, as for many of us, God’s road back is through afflictions God brings so that in our distress we will cry out to Him and seek His face and His ways.

God’s road back isn’t always smooth, but it will get you where you’ve always wanted to be.