A LEADING QUESTION

A KEY SCRIPTURE

Jonah 2:1-2 "Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish's belly. ² And he said: 'I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me.'"

---

ARRIVING AT AN ANSWER

Even when Jonah thought he was cast out of the sight of God he found God to be omnipresent. Here are some of the things Jonah learned about our great and wonderful God.

	He learned it is not possible to escape from God's presence (Jonah 1:3 ).
	He learned that God was in control of the sea (Jonah 1:4 ).
	He learned when the lot is cast God made the decisions (Jonah 1:7; Proverbs 16:33 ).
	He learned God prepared and provided a deliverer because He called (Jonah 1:17 ).
	He learned a big fish was obedient to God in contrast to his own disobedience (Jonah 1:17; 2:10 ).
	He learned God can deliver, even when humanly speaking it is too late (Jonah 2:2 ).
	He learned God hears prayer even when in seemingly shut out conditions (Jonah 2:4,7 ).
	He learned the omnipresent God is the all-powerful Lord, deserving of submission and gratitude (Jonah 2:9-10 ).
	He learned to obey, through God's corrective hand (Jonah 3:1-12 ).
	He learned that the God who sees is the Lord of the second chance (Jonah 3:1-12 ).

A LEADING QUESTION

A KEY SCRIPTURE

Psalms 118:5-6 "I called on the LORD in distress; The LORD answered me and set me in a broad place. 6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

Psalms 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble."

---

ARRIVING AT AN ANSWER

Distress or trouble can affect us emotionally and hinder our effectiveness, but neither can remove God's presence.

	Care should be taken never to permit distress to change our relationship with God. Like the Psalmist, look to Him as Lord.
	Fellowship with the ever present Lord is an essential part of true relationship. This is what made it natural and effortless for the Psalmist to call upon the Lord in his distress.
	It is by calling on the Lord that sovereignty is asserted over distress.
	Calling on the Lord is confessing that He is the specialist in dealing with distress.
	By calling on the Lord the Psalmist was prophesying victory over the distress.
	Release from distress is knowing that God's hearing and answering are united as one. What you speak secretly in His presence is answered openly (Matthew 6:6 ).
	God's answer breaks down the narrow confines of distress. By His relief He brings placement in the broad place of life lived in His presence.
	To experience the God of mercy and loving goodness alongside, removes fear, making living in the broad place actual.

	Are you living above the hostility of people of power? (Psalm 118:6 ).
	Are you delighting in the Lord's omnipresence?
	Are you refusing to be closed in by distress by calling on the name of the Lord?
	Are you living your life daily in the broad place of His conscious presence?

When His people are in trouble they can count on the presence of God as their refuge and strength. He is very present, ready to help, and always dependable (Psalm 46:1 ).

Those who take their stand for God may be punished or persecuted, but they will prove the unfailing presence of God. The Hebrews Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego (Daniel 3:16 ) prove the unfailing presence of God. Refusal to bow down and worship Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue demonstrated the genuineness of their faith. Nothing was allowed to divert and deter them from serving the only true and living God.

Even God's most loyal people may have to suffer the severest punishment for their faith. Jealous schemers may seem to win but they are always losers, because God never leaves nor forsakes His own (Daniel 3:8-12; Hebrews 13:5-6 ). God may not always save from the furnace of affliction, but He presences Himself with us in the fire. It is far better to be walking with the Lord in the fire, than be out of the fire, but paralysed in our testimony by God-dishonouring compromise.

Faith calculates on deliverance knowing God is able, yet chooses to be faithful even if God allows the fiery death (Daniel 3:17-18 ). Faith in the Son of God, held to be the fourth one in the fire, is the secret of triumphant overcoming (Revelation 2:10 ).Even in death the promise to the faithful is the crown of life. The victorious do two things, they maintain loyalty to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Person and work, they tenaciously hold to the faith called "my faith" by Christ. Contending for His faith (Jude 3 ) makes overcomers.

If you would know His specially revealed presence, be bold and unshaken in your witness to Him.

Paul called to mind the pain, pressure and suffering he endured in fulfilment of His apostolic ministry, to emphasise strength and triumph in Christ. He contrasts human experience of weakness, with spiritual experience of might (2 Corinthians 4:7-12 ).Though he knew great persecution, he claimed he had never experienced being forsaken by the Lord, never deserted, never left without support (2 Timothy 4:16-17 ). Ministering in this evil day we shall not lack the support of the Lord's presence.