Mon., 11/23/15 Devotion (Jon. 2:4)

Today's encouragement comes from Jonah 2:4, where we read these words:

"Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ "

Jonah goes from consciously running away from God, to once again desiring to enjoy His sweet presence (in the context of the temple—the Old Covenant church). What made the difference? Probably, the interesting time he spent in the belly of the great fish.

God has a way of making us, His churched children, want Him very badly. Even when our own fleshly wills assert themselves and get us into big trou-
ble—the Lord knows how to turn us back to Himself, and to cause us to de-spair of sin’s false promises. As we once again regain our senses, and begin to think clearly, we, like Jonah, begin to say, "I will look again toward Your holy temple."  In Christ, there is always hope.

[Puritan quote of the day: "God would have His people humble, but not un-grateful. It is the devil's policy either to keep us from duty, or else to put us up-on it when it is least in season.” —Thomas Watson, in his sermon, "The Trees of Righteousness Blossoming"]