Jonah 2:7 When I had lost all hope, I turned my thoughts once more to the Lord
I was listening to a sermon and heard this verse in a different translation than I was used to. It was translated the way it is above in the Living Bible. Reading this verse really got me thinking how simple of a statement Jonah made but oh how powerful it is as well.
I am guessing that all of us at one time or another have reached a point in our life where we felt like we had lost all hope. We maybe said we were at the end of our rope, or hanging on by a thread. When we get to that point we need to read this verse. It would probably be a good one to memorize. When we have no where else to turn, when it seems all is lost we need to remember the most important thing we can do, turn our thoughts to the Lord. Remember how bad things had to get to for Jonah for him to turn his thought to the Lord? It wasn’t until he was in the belly of a fish that he reset his compass to where it needed to be.
I find it interesting that he says, “I turned my thoughts ‘once more’ to the Lord.” Boy isn’t that the truth? We have our thoughts on the Lord and then slowly we let things creep into our mind and without noticing our thoughts move away from the Lord and onto things we shouldn’t let control our thoughts. We let fear and lies start to control our thoughts. We have to remember our thoughts are so strong and powerful. They drive our emotions and actions.
Maybe right now you are going through a difficult time and feel like you have lost all hope or are at the end of your rope. Turn your thoughts to the Lord. Focus on Him, his promises and his plan for your life! Spend some time in prayer and reading the Bible. Make him your focus and not the things going on around you! You will never run out of second chances of coming back to Him!
What has it taken in your life to get you to turn your thoughts back to God?
What is it that starts to take your thoughts off the Lord, fear, lies, desires?