I’ve read and heard the story of Jonah countless times in my life. It’s a familiar tale.

Very familiar.

But recently, while reading the book again, I was surprised by a verse that I’d never really noticed before.

Look at it for yourself in Jonah 2:8:

I’ve been reading a lot recently about idols. Tim Keller has an excellent book on the subject called Counterfeit Gods. And I’m currently in the middle of Pete Wilson’s Empty Promises.

But as excellent as both of those books are, neither one of them have impacted me as heavily as these thirteen words have.

Jonah sums it up succinctly: grace can’t flow into where idols dwell.

In order to experience the fullness of God’s grace, the prerequisite is to break my grasp on worthless idols.

I know that this is going to be a topic I wrestle with a lot this week. Because I know my propensity to depend on myself, or my stuff, or my paycheck, instead of God.

And, as good and necessary as those things are, Jonah calls them worthless.

That kind of hurts.

But missing out on the grace that I could be experiencing hurts more.

What are you clinging to in place of God? What are you doing to stop clinging to this? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

One of the recurring themes in the Psalms is the idea of needing God to save. You find this idea over and over. David, and the other psalmists, cry out for God to rescue them from their enemies, their dangers, their circumstances.

Psalm 86 carries the same idea. Take a look at verse 2:

After reading Psalm 86, you get the idea that this is a personal pray of David. And it lends itself to that idea well. But there are a few commentators who suspect that there may be more here than just a personal plea for God’s provision of an undivided heart. Some scholars seem to think that this is a prayer written at the national level.

If so, it seems like a good prayer for America today.

Written with great fervor and passion, this psalm cries out for God to restore David and the nation of Israel into a right standing before God. And written with great confidence, this passage conveys just how great this need is.

So, both personally and nationally, this passage is worth committing to memory. That way, we can cry out to God with the same passion and confidence.

In your life, what keeps you from having an undivided heart towards God? And what do you see as the greatest barrier to this in a national scope? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Do you try to “do” too much with your faith?

I know I do. It’s an easy trap to fall into, it seems. I get focused on all the work I do, such as my daily Bible readings, and lesson studies, and youth ministry work, and I catch myself starting to see that as the path to staying in God’s good favor.

But that’s not how it works. Paul addresses this in Ephesians 2:8-9:

Nothing I can do can earn my place in God’s sight. I am totally dependent upon him, trusting that he will carry me.

It’s good to be reminded of this.

Do you ever get so focused on doing that you forget this promise? What do you do to combat this? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

You may know that my family recently moved from Missouri to Florida.

With a family of seven, that’s a big move. And, inevitably, some things got lost in the transfer.

One such item was the bag of hardwear for the baby crib. A good friend of ours, Patrick, helped me take apart the crib a dew days before our moving day. We moved the pieces to our storage unit, and out of the house. In the process, I intentionally put the bag of bolts in my car and left them there so I’d be able to put my hands on them right away when we got to our new house.

It took me two weeks to find them.

I searched my car. Multiple times. I emptied the console. Searched under the seats. I even started digging through the stacks of boxes in the garage that have yet to be unpacked.

I stressed. I complained. I vented. Sometimes loudly.

No bolts.

I looked everywhere, and most places more than once.

Somehow, in this process, I discovered that my focus was misplaced. I needed to reevaluate my mindset a bit, like Paul tells us in Colossians 3:2:

When our mind is set on things above, our perspective tends to be more clear. We can see the bigger picture more easily.

But when our minds are set on earthly things, we start to lose ourselves in a whirlwind of confusion, anxiety, and distraction.

I’m not saying that when I calmed down my search and reevaluated my priorities, God led me to that which was lost. But I am saying that he could have.

I’m not saying that God stirred my mind and heart to seek first him and his kingdom. But I am saying that sounds like something he would do.

And so I calmed my spirit, focused more on things above.

And a couple of days later, I found those bolts.

They were in the glove compartment of my car. Right where I put them when Patrick and I took the crib apart that day.

How do you keep your mind set on things above? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.