It's All Good..Okay, Maybe Not, But There Is Good In It - October 25, 2010

Daily Lectionary for October 25, 2010
Psalm 52
Jonah 1:17-2:10
Revelation 11:1-14
Luke 11:14-26

Jonah 1:17 - 2:10
A classic "things could be worse" moment.  Jonah's disobedience has led to a storm, which has led to him being tossed off his boat, which has led to being swallowed by a fish - a bad day by most any measure.  So, naturally, the second chapter of Jonah is, from the belly of the fish, a Psalm of Thanksgiving.  Because...things could be worse.  No fish and Jonah would have just been in the storm tossed waters.  God "brought up my life from the Pit".(v.6)  "Deliverance belongs to the Lord!"(v.9)  Jonah is disobedient at the outset and eventually he will be crabby because of the success of his mission, but here we see Jonah giving us a helpful clue on coping in life.  It is more complex than things could be worse - it's why they aren't worse.  They aren't worse, because even in awful circumstances Jonah still experiences God's care.  We can bemoan the difficulties and challenges of life (and to be clear, Jonah's situation here was self made and quite often ours are as well) or we can look at what could be the gathering gloom and find the way that God is present in it, with us, for us, and loving us.