“Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17).

As you begin September, do you need a reminder that with God all things are actually possible?

As modern people, we can get sucked into the prevailing skepticism of our time. If we’re not careful our default setting can be doubt. I realize that we sometimes have doubts. But if that’s our default setting, there might be a problem. 

This attitude can influence how we read the Bible too.

Several years ago I was teaching about Jonah. I highlighted that some people think it is a “myth.” How in the world could a large fish swallow a person like that?

In that same series I stated my own position. I think it is a historical fact, meaning that Jonah was a real person, that God spoke to him, that he was swallowed by an actual huge fish, that he repented of his disobedience, that he was vomited out on shore three days later, and that he went on to successfully preach to the Ninevites.

An online listener emailed me to criticize my apparently naïve view.

But why would they think that? 

First, Jesus spoke about Jonah’s experience as if it were a real event. 

Second, God is almighty and can do anything. If he can create the universe and raise the dead, a man-swallowing fish is not surprising.

Third, there are reports of whale sharks in the Mediterranean Sea measuring forty feet long. That’s where this story took place. These whale sharks are filter feeders. They go around with their mouths open swallowing whatever they come across. There are even modern accounts of humans and dogs who were swallowed whole and then recovered alive between two and six days later!*

My point is this. God is actually God, then and now. The God of Abraham, Jonah and the Gospels, is our God. And he is still at work among his people, including you.

Put your trust in the Lord. Follow Christ. And believe big things.

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Notes:

-After some vacation time, this devotional is back five days a week. I also return to preach and teach at Westminster in Barrie this Sunday. If you don’t have a church home, you’re invited! Click here to learn more.

-*See: The NLT Illustrated Study Bible (Tyndale House Publishers: Carol Stream, 2015), 1569.

-Bible quotes are from the NIV.