Treasures in Darkness, Riches in Secret Places

You may never think of the darkest times of your life as a serendipitous period, and you may be surreptitious about your situation because you don’t want anyone to discover that you consider yourself being in a bad place spiritually, emotionally or even financially. However, these seasons can unearth valuable treasures making you richly blessed.

And He will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is His treasure. Isaiah 33:6 NASB

We should seek the Lord Himself to be our stability during our difficult times, and in the midst of our trials He will bestow onto us an abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. These are the treasures of those who fear the Lord.

Now, when I think of Jonah, I don’t necessarily think of him as one who actually feared the Lord. He said he did, but from his actions, I don’t believe him. We should know by now that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Yet, it seems like Prophet Jonah did not even start procuring any wisdom as he ran from the Lord’s presence after He sent him to Nineveh to preach a message of repentance. Really?!! Who does that? Well, the fact is many of us do. We actually think that somehow our Omnipresent All-knowing God is not going to see us when we try to hide from Him after He has given us directions to go to a place or do a thing that is not pleasing to us.

I am quite befuddled when I read that Jonah is on a sinking ship in the middle of a storm sleeping. Now, I get Jesus catching a snooze on a boat in a storm because He is the Prince of Peace who stills the storms. I don’t think for a second that was the case with Jonah. He could not have peace because He was moving away from God’s presence. So, how could he sleep? I believe he may have been numb to the world. His conscience was now seared as he lost connection with his First Love. If he had loved God, he would have obeyed His command. But, his love for God and man had grown cold. Instead, he was judgmental and critical, thinking that the Ninevites were not worthy of God’s redemption. Nevertheless, the Lord had a different thought. Jonah was the one He had planned to use for this mission and even though the absconding prophet was on the run like a fugitive, God’s plan for a future and hope for the rebellious Ninevites would not be thwarted. This was not mission impossible because all things are possible with God, which Jonah must have forgotten.

As the fierce winds of the tempest rocked the ship to and fro, the frightened crew members petitioned their gods, but there was no answer. They were still on a sinking ship and they had to start throwing their cargo overboard to lessen their weight so that they could stay above water. In the midst of this brutal storm, they awakened Jonah and beseeched him to entreat his God to save them. Knowing he was the cause of this merciless squall, he informed them of his actions, which led to their predicament. He told them to throw him into the sea, but they were reluctant to do so. The unrelenting winds smashed ferocious waves against the vessel and being out of options they tossed him into the unfriendly waters, and to their surprise the winds died down and they were immediately in calm seas. They then recognized the potency of Jonah’s God.

Before I go on, let me pause here a bit to admonish you to be careful who is in your ship, because that relationship could end up in a shipwreck leaving you in murky waters. Too many of us enable folks who are causing disruption in our lives to remain, resulting in us experiencing a number of setbacks. We need to seek God to show us who stays and who goes. Sometimes people are only in our lives for a season. We may try to hold on to them when God is doing a new thing. But, like putting new wine into old wineskin, the old wineskin will be torn and so too our lives will be on a road to destruction if we do not let God renew all areas of our lives, which may include some pruning away of people and things. Yes, the Lord may also be calling us to get rid of some material belongings that are encumbering us. It could be that credit card, which entices you to buy over your budget causing you to drown deeper in debt. Ask God to show you what may be impeding you from fulfilling His purpose and appeal to Him to help you remove it, if you can’t do it by yourself.

Many of us may blame the devil for whatever trials we go through, refusing to admit that succumbing to our own fleshly desires led us to depths of darkness. We also may not want to acknowledge that the God who sets the boundaries for the sea so that the waters would not go beyond what He commands would possibly stir up a storm to get our attention and to fulfill His purpose. This storm was meant for good to save not only the people of Nineveh, but to introduce the ship crew to the power of the One True God. We need to stay in God’s presence and petition Him for discernment to know what is of Him and what is not. This information will assist us to know how to pray and endure those dark days when the storms threaten to topple our lives. While pressing in to God for His directions, He will give us treasures of wisdom and knowledge and we will understand how to persevere in through uncharted waters and challenging periods as He comforts our hearts.

That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3 NASB

God’s ways are surely mysterious. After Jonah gets swallowed up by the raging waters, the Lord sends a big fish to gulp him up and house him in its belly for three days. Now this wasn’t the most likely accommodation and it was no cruise ship, but it got Him to where God wanted him to go and allowed him enough time to have a change of heart before God turned around His situation. In the stomach of the fish, Jonah cried out thanking the Lord for saving Him from a watery grave. He also declared that he would make good of His vow and say that salvation comes from the Lord. Jonah repented and it was then that the Lord ordered the fish to vomit Him up on dry land. When the word of the Lord came to him again to go to Nineveh and to tell them what He said, Jonah wasted no time to obey this time and immediately went on his way to carry out God’s wishes, even though he still was not pleased with the plan.

Have you ever had an in the belly of a fish experience? As unappetizing as this may all sound, this was God’s mode of transportation to get Jonah back on a path of obedience. This fish represented God’s lavish love and mercy, not only for Jonah, but also for the Ninevites. Sometimes we don’t like the plans God has for us and we want to run away, but we need to endure whatever comes because God never promised that it would be easy, but He did promise that He would not leave us or forsake us. When God wants to reroute us back on His track, He might use some unpleasant circumstances to redirect us.

We should never think lightly of the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance and patience. (See Romans 2:4). In the belly of the fish may very well be the secret place where we receive those riches. It may feel like a dark lonely place, but God is working on our hearts and shaping us into His image. The Lord’s instruction should be chosen over silver and we should prefer His knowledge over the most expensive gold. His wisdom is better than jewels. (See Proverbs 8:10-11) It is the catastrophes of life that God uses to instruct us about His ways, while bringing us into a deeper understanding and knowledge of His character. Plus, these seemingly barren periods offer a fertile ground for our Godly wisdom to grow. This is why we should never stop praising Him in the storm, the fire, the wilderness, and in the darkest times of our lives because it is in these situations that He is giving us treasures in darkness and riches in secret places.