Encouragement

To be perfectly honest, I've not had the best week. It's not that anything terrible happened; instead, I've simply felt kind of down. Yesterday, I called a friend and asked her to pray for me. She graciously did so, right then and there. One of the things she prayed for was encouragement for me.

This morning I read some good, encouraging words in or based on Scripture. I'll quote them here. I hope that they encourage you, too. :-)

" 'I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.' Isaiah 48:10
Comfort thyself, tried believer, with this thought: God saith, 'I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.' Does not the word come like a soft shower, assuaging the fury of the flame? Yea, is it not an asbestos armour, against which the heat hath no power? Let affliction come--God has chosen me. Poverty, thou mayst stride in at my door, but God is in the house already, and He has chosen me. Sickness, thou mayst intrude, but I have a balsam ready--God has chosen me. Whatever befalls me in this vale of tears, I know that He has 'chosen' me. If, believer, thou requirest still greater comfort, remember that you have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. In that silent chamber of yours, there sitteth by your side One whom thou hast not seen, but whom thou lovest; and ofttimes when thou knowest it not, He makes all thy bed in thy affliction, and smooths thy pillow for thee. Thou art in poverty; but in that lonely house of thine the Lord of life and glory is a frequent visitor. He loves to come into these desolate places, that He may visit thee. Thy friend sticks closely to thee. Thou canst not see Him, but thou mayst feel the pressure of His hands. Dost thou not hear His voice? Even in the valley of the shadow of death He says, 'Fear not, I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God.' Remember that noble speech of Caesar: 'Fear not, thou carriest Caesar and all his fortune.' Fear not, Christian; Jesus is with thee. In all thy fiery trials, His presence is both thy comfort and safety. He will never leave one whom He has chosen for His own. 'Fear not, for I am with thee,' is His sure word of promise to His chosen ones in the 'furnace of affliction.' Wilt thou not, then, take fast hold of Christ, and say--
'Through flood and flames, if Jesus lead,
I'll follow where He goes.' "
(Charles Spurgeon, "Morning & Evening", morning entry for March 3)

"You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry" (Psalm 10:17)

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song."
(Psalm 28:7)

The Sign of Jonah

Recently, I've re-read the book of Jonah. I've always liked it. It has a wonderful picture of the Lord's mercy toward sinners (both Jonah and the people of Nineveh). This time, I noticed something new.

Of course, I had been aware of the whole death and resurrection motif in Jonah, since he was swallowed by a big fish and stayed there for 3 days. Certainly, that's a great picture of Christ; Jesus referred to that himself in Matthew 12:40 ("For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.").

What I noticed this time through was another way in which Jonah points to Christ. In the first chapter of the book, Jonah runs away from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. Therefore, the Lord sends a nasty storm; all the sailors are afraid they're going to die. Jonah admits to being the reason for the storm. They ask him what they should do to him to make the sea calm down. Then he says, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm." (Jonah 1:12)

In other words, Jonah voluntarily sacrifices himself--he "dies"--to appease God's judgment/wrath and save others' lives.

Hmm. . . where have I heard that before? ;-)

It's a great encouragement to me that the Lord uses obviously sinful people like Jonah--and like me--to proclaim the good news to the world.