<< Today's Insight with Chuck Swindoll

Day by Day - Dec. 30, 2009

Think It Over
by Charles R. Swindoll

God's Word is filled with examples of those who believed God and "commenced prayer." David certainly did. "I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm" (Ps. 40:1-2).

Paul and Silas experienced the same thing in that ancient Philippian prison when all seemed hopeless (Acts 16:25-26). And it was from the deep that Jonah cried for help. Choking on salt water and engulfed by the Mediterranean currents, the prodigal prophet called out his distress:

"Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, ‘I called out of my distress to the LORD, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; Thou didst hear my voice. . . . All Thy breakers and billows passed over me. . . . But Thou hast brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God'" (Jonah 2:1-6).

Often it is the crucible of crisis that energizes our faith. Think it over.

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.


More Today's Insight with Chuck Swindoll Articles