Be grateful while repenting.
Have you ever landed yourself in a mess you knew was entirely your fault?
Once, after a concert, one of my bandmates insisted on taking a night bus back to Mumbai from a remote village. We all told him to wait till morning, but he wouldn’t listen. Alone at the bus stop, he was robbed at knifepoint. Thankfully, they spared his life, but he deeply regretted taking the bus that night.
Jonah, too, found himself in a sticky situation, facing the consequences of his own bad decisions.
God had told him to go to Nineveh and warn the people to repent. But Jonah ran the other way, boarding a ship headed in the opposite direction. When a violent storm threatened to sink the vessel, Jonah knew it was God’s judgment for him and told the sailors to throw him overboard. He was then swallowed by a large fish (Jonah 1).
In the belly of the fish, Jonah repented from his disobedience and cried out to God for help.
But not only that, he also raises “shouts of grateful praise” (Jonah 2:9 NIV).
Honestly, I can’t imagine finding much to be thankful for inside a fish’s stomach 🤷🏻, but that didn’t stop Jonah from adopting an attitude of gratitude, even during the darkest days of his life.
Do you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom or, as in Jonah’s case, fish belly levels of desperation, regret and repentance? Include gratefulness in your repentance prayers. Thank God for the salvation that has already been established through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
God said through Isaiah:
In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength – Isaiah 30:15 NIV
Rest in the knowledge that your sins have been forgiven and thank God for His unending grace.
