He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”
Jonah 2:2 NIV
You Listened
A poll taken this past October discovered that more than half of Canadians are listening to podcasts. Podcast listening among Canadian adults rose incrementally between 2017 and 2020 and picked up the pace from the first year of the pandemic to the second year. Those that have ever listened to a podcast grew from 44% to 48%. Last year there was another five-point increase with 53% – more than half of Canadian adults – now saying they have listened to a podcast.
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Have you noticed that some of your best prayers are in times of great need? It is well known that there are no atheists in a foxhole. When we feel our life is threatened, or we are in fear, we cry out to God, pleading for Him to come to our aid. Sometimes this is the case even when our own decision, our own rebellion, has caused us to be in the dire situation. That was certainly the case with Jonah the Biblical prophet. God had called him to go to Nineveh and warn them to turn to God or destruction would come upon them. Jonah didn’t like the Ninevites, and was just fine with them suffering God’s judgment. So instead of heading east, he fled north, taking a ship heading toward Tarshish. God didn’t let him get far. His ship hits a storm, and Jonah is thrown overboard, being swallowed by a big fish. This gets Jonah’s attention and from the belly of that fish he prays this, in Jonah 2:2: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley