“If I say, ‘My foot slips,’ Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up” (Psalm 94:18). On this day, Jesus Christ is seated on the Throne of Grace interceding with the Father for us. His grace and mercy makes us more than a conqueror. You shall not be consumed. You shall fulfill the purpose for which God has called you into this world. Be of good cheer.
Why is God in the temple? It is because He owns the church having purchased it with His blood (Psalm 11:4, Acts 20:28). Therefore, while in His presence we are called to remember that we are purchased by His blood to be His children. He owns us and we own Him. Therefore, when you come into the church what does the Lord do for you? “In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears” (Psalm 18:6).
There are different cries that the Lord hears from His holy temple. Jonah cried from the depths of the sea while in trouble (Jonah 2:3). Although a servant of God he had not obeyed Him. When God asked him to go to Nineveh to preach His word, instead of obeying he used his intellect. Quite often we lean on our own understanding to do certain things that God has commanded us to do. We fail to depend on God and say, “God is with me only on Sundays.” However, God says, “My child! I want to abide with you always. I never want to leave you or forsake you. Call on Me. Before you call I will answer.” He is waiting for us.
At times even the servants of God who are in the ministry doing God’s work lean on their own wisdom and understanding. As a consequence, they get into trouble like landing inside the belly of a fish. I always say, “God in His immense grace and mercy prepared a fish to swallow Jonah but He never allowed the fish to digest him. Although God wanted to teach Jonah a lesson yet He protected him.”
Once my father had a heavenly visitation. When you are in deep sorrow or trouble – so much so that nothing of this world can comfort you to take another step that is when God gives a heavenly visitation to His servants to strengthen them to move forward in the ministry. Jesus Christ had such an experience. Before crucifixion He went to the Mount of Transfiguration as recorded in Matthew 17:1. The heavens opened. Elijah and Moses came down from heaven and met Jesus Christ who was in the flesh on the earth and prepared Him to face crucifixion.
When God gives you a mission to reach out to the nations then heavens will open unto you. God will speak to you face to face. God will enable you to speak to the saints. Of course it is the Holy Spirit speaking through them and those saints of God will prepare you for the next cross. It is not to die but to have victory. The Holy Spirit enabled my father to talk to Jonah about his experience inside the belly of the fish.
Jonah told my father, “Dhinakaran! God’s grace sustained me while I was inside the belly of the fish. The digestive juice flowed to digest me considering me as food. It had a burning feeling on my skin. Immediately I cried out to God. In my trouble I called out to God and He heard me. Immediately the mercy of God enveloped me and prevented me from being consumed by those digestive juices” (Lamentation 3:23). Just as how Jesus Christ told Paul, “This thorn will not consume you. My grace is sufficient for you. In your weakness My strength will be perfected in you” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Jonah told, “The mercy of God surrounded me. It was tangible. At the right time I was thrown out by the fish and became a sign for Jesus Christ to come out of the grave.” Dear Friend! Everything that happens in the life of a servant or child of God whether good or bad according to human standards happens to be a sign for the working of God and His kingdom (Isaiah 8:18). The grace and mercy of God will surround you to pull you out of all your troubles. His grace and mercy will never allow you to be consumed by the evil of this world.
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