When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the LORD,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” The radical Saul Alinsky wrote that in a political sense. Ridicule cannot be refuted. People have ridiculed believers for the story of Jonah for centuries. Three days in a fish?!? We can refute it with the words of Jesus quoting Jonah. Jesus spent three days in a tomb. I will believe him. Jonah returns the favor to idolaters in his prayer. Jonah prayed and was answered, while others prayed to wood, bronze, and stone, inanimate objects that cannot answer. The folly in that line of thinking is so obvious that Jonah could see it from the belly of the fish! His retort? The Lord saves.
Not very long ago, Richard Dawkins devised an ingenious tactic to use against Christians and those who believe in God. Mock them. We can use the tactics of Jonah very effectively here. We pray to a God who hears. They put their trust in this broken world. We give thanks and offerings to the God who saved us by sending Jesus to a cross so we can live forever with him. They try to invent meaning and purpose for life, knowing that, without God, life is meaningless. May the hope of steadfast love that sounds ridiculous, ring in their ears today.
Dear Lord, thank you that you hear us and speak to us in steadfast love. May the mockers see and hear that you are good. In Jesus’ name. Amen
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church