Repentance is Still Needed
I Called for Help – Part 1

Scripture Reading: Jonah 2:1-10

Key Verse: Jonah 2:2
He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.

Jonah’s life had spun out of control, and he was heading toward certain death. Finally, when he hit bottom, or in his words: “from the depths of the grave,” he called for help.

We are not sure of the time lapse between when Jonah refused the instructions from God and when he ended up calling for help but, during the time, Jonah did everything except pray. He undoubtedly did not want to even think about God. He probably tried to busy his mind and create as much “noise” as possible. I have no doubt that it was at night when he was trying to get to sleep that God’s voice came ringing back into his mind!

This story is truly the story of every person that has rebelled against God. During our time of rebellion, we busy ourselves and keep lots of noise around us, not wanting to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. In our forced quiet moments, we start to hear God drawing us back to Him!

For one man I was counseling, it was four years of rebellion. He had hardened his heart to the wooing of the Holy Spirit. He was enjoying his favorite sin and did not want to give it up. But God refused to let him continue into destruction. When this man hit bottom, he cried out to the Lord. The consequences of his sin were very painful, but God forgave him and slowly put this man’s life back together.

Has God been speaking to you about a sin in your life? It will take repentance, which is an act of turning back to God!

Father, grant me eyes to see and ears to hear Your voice and leading in my life. I turn from sin to new life in You. In Jesus’s Name, amen.