All too often we careen along the path of our destruction until we have been brought to the point of ruin... this is the case with Jonah, refusing to obey the command of God, he thought he could outrun the hand of God, he believed that he could exert his own will instead of submitting to the Sovereign hand of the Holy One of Israel... This is never possible, but still we try; and the result is usually some form of Jonah's experience. We run away only to find rebuke, discipline and suffering that is all born of our rebellion... for in our great "wisdom" we forget the truth; we are not really all that wise, we are not really all that strong, we are not really all that ANYTHING! And when we reach that place where we have exhausted all of our own resources and drained our own strength we will find that we have obtained nothing of what we have desired, sought or demanded!! In that moment, the truth just might be revealed to us. Here is that truth: "when my soul faints, I remember God". We remember in our extremity that all of our idols, our pretended help, our imagined saviors, have always let us down. That none of the promises of man, none of the guarantees of imaginary gods have ever been found to be true... but in the God of scripture, the Creator of heaven and earth, EVERY promise is yes and amen to the glory of our merciful Savior!! For the God who is, always keeps His Word, and He will ALWAYS aid those who cast themselves upon His mercy. There is no mercy in any other, there is no grace in any other, there is no hope in any other... mercy, grace and hope only lie in the power of YHWH God... for only God ever took on flesh, paid the debt and bore the punishment that was owed to His people. Only in the person of Jesus Christ is our salvation! Oh my beloved child, cease striving against the One True God, for you will only succeed in exhausting yourself when you forsake the only mercy that is ever offered; and remember that mercy is always guaranteed to all who ask!!