"Out of the belly of hell cried I" (Jonah 2:2). Why did the Lord take Jonah so low? He was in the belly of a living hell, suspended in darkness, hanging between life and death. Why would a merciful God put a servant through this? I believe Jonah's story shows us how God deals with disobedient servants.
How could such a prayerful man as Jonah drift away from his calling and fall into disobedience? It begins with a partial, incomplete knowledge of God's nature.
Jonah was given a powerful revelation of God's grace and mercy. He testified, "I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil" (Jonah 4:2).
Have you been taught by Jesus in your secret closet of prayer? Have you sought Him for things you can't get from books or teachers? Have you sat quietly in His presence, waiting to hear His voice? The Bible says all truth is in Christ. And He alone can impart it to you, through His blessed Holy Spirit.
The Pharisees and Sadducees came and demanded that Jesus show them a sign from heaven (see Matthew 16:1). Jesus responded, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” (Matthew 16:4). Later, Jesus called His disciples together and asked, "Whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:15-16).
There are scores of well-trained ministers today, highly respected men of advanced learning. They've spent years in seminary, studying theology, philosophy and ethics. And they've been taught by gifted teachers, esteemed men who are experts in their fields.
Consider Cornelius, the centurion. This man was not a preacher or a lay minister. In fact, being a Gentile, he wasn't even numbered among God's people. Yet, Scripture says this soldier was "a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always" (Acts 10:2).
Tragically, many ministers today preach lifeless sermons. Their messages neither convict of sin nor answer the deep cries of the heart. This is absolutely criminal. Empty philosophies spouted in a time of great hunger will only cause greater sorrow in hearers.
I have been asking the Lord if it's possible today, in this time of grace, to live as He did. Can we be totally dependent on the voice of the Father in glory? Is it possible to hear His direction for our lives day by day, moment by moment? Is there such a walk laid out for us, so we also can say, "I speak only what I hear from the Lord, and do only what I see Him doing"?
Scripture tells us that on occasion “as many as touched him were made whole" (see Mark 6:56). Yet, at other times, He didn't heal because of people's unbelief. How did Jesus know when to heal and when not to? He had to hear the still, small voice of His Father giving Him a word of direction. And He gloried in hearing His Father's voice.
It was in the hours alone with the Father that Christ heard His voice speak. Indeed, Jesus received every encouraging word, every prophetic warning, while in prayer. He petitioned the Father, worshiped Him, and submitted to His will. And after every miracle, every teaching, every face-off with a Pharisee, Jesus hurried back to fellowship with His Father.