What In Hell Are You Talking About?

WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Jonah 1:17, 2:1-2 (King James Version): Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

Oftentimes, we look around, and things seem deplorable and devastating. Sickness, disease, and limited finances consume our thoughts. Life stuff has no rhyme or reason for happening. And then, when it happens, why does it seem to happen to you? Life can be hell. But here you are saved and sanctified, and hell is coming at you full force. Being saved doesn’t mean that hell stops. As a matter of fact, hell kicks up a notch because you’re saved. Just because you have been renewed in your thinking doesn’t mean hell stops. Hell is on assignment for your mind. Hell is on assignment for your life. Hell wants to attach itself to anything and everything that is important to you. Hell wants your anointing. As a matter of fact, hell wants you! Hell can be a place and an emotion. The pit. The lowest place. The hurtful place. The place that is the opposite of all that is good. The place of devastation. The place where misery resides.

Being saved doesn’t mean that hell stops. As a matter of fact, hell kicks up a notch because you’re saved. Just because you have been renewed in your thinking doesn’t mean hell stops. Hell is on assignment for your mind. Hell is on assignment for your life. Hell wants to attach itself to anything and everything that is important to you. Hell wants your anointing. As a matter of fact, hell wants you! Hell can be a place and an emotion. The pit. The lowest place. The hurtful place. The place that is the opposite of all that is good. The place of devastation. The place where misery resides.

When you’re going through hell, you need the word of God planted in your mouth. When you’re going through hell, you need to be able to articulate what thus saith the Lord about a matter. When you’re going through hell, you need to be able to speak God’s promises about your situation, rather than the situation itself.

When you’re sick, what you want to be talking about is what God says about you getting well. When you’re broke, what does God say about being wealthy? The word of God is going to keep you as you go through hell. What you talk about when you’re in hell is just as important as what you talk about when you’re not.

Because you have established a relationship with God when you are in the pit of misery, when you’re dealing with depression, when you’re dealing with anxiety or loneliness, you should have a word that you can stand on. When you understand the power of God’s promises over your life, while you’re going through something, you have enough of the word of God to keep your mind in perfect peace.

In this text, Jonah had been given an assignment from God to go to Nineveh, so he might preach against the wickedness there, but Jonah decided that the assignment was not important enough for him to be obedient. Well, the truth of the matter is, there are consequences to disobedience.

Deuteronomy 28:15 (KJV): But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.

And so now Jonah finds himself fleeing from the assignment of God to Tarshish, on a ship, in the middle of the sea. The King James Version describes the sea as “tempestuous.” In other words, it was turbulent, wild, and conflicting.

There are several things we can learn from this text. When you disobey and try to escape the will of God, things around you, that may have been calm, will become raging because you don’t belong there.

Secondly, when you’re going through hell, everyone is not going to want to go with you, just because you’ve decided to be disobedient. The text shows us that, after the shipmen threw Jonah overboard, the seas became calm. Then, the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow him up. In other words, Jonah was in hell.

Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God, the text says. When you have a relationship with God, what you do ordinarily will become a natural occurrence when you’re in hell. When you’re in hell, prayer is the key! Praying to God during your time in hell will bring, not only comfort, but direction.