Jonah 2

In verse 9 Jonah promises God "But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good."

Only problem, it's a little late to be making these promises. Jonah was thrown into the sea and swallowed whole by a large fish... He is now in the fish's belly. From here, there are two ways he could go. Either he can be vomited out and live or head through the bowels and become fish poop. I have heard of soldiers making promises to God in foxholes, but this is a little different.

Asking for help is a hard thing to do. Listening to God is even harder.

Jonah isgnored God, which we can all relate to. Maybe we have not been called to announce judgment on Ninevah, but every day we do stuff that God asked us not to, we call it sin. Sin has consequences, sin makes life harder than it has to be... Life is hard enough already.

But we don't have to go through it alone.

For some reason most people don't ask for help unless they absolutely have to. Men don't like to ask for directions, and thanks to google maps on our phones, we never have to! In our culture asking for help is a sign of weakness. Even when do ask for help, we try not to tell others about it. Most people that go to counseling do not want to tell their friends about it, it is embarrassing.

And we don't turn to God unless things get really bad, like downsizing at work or we are waiting for the test results. 

How stupid!

We were created to help one another. God wants us to spend our lives helping one another, it's how we are supposed to live. Everyone needs help at some point, there is no shame in it. Whether it be because of a loss of a job, an addiction, a confusing phase in life or a couch that needs moving, we can all use a hand some time.

Asking for help is a healthy thing to do. Do it early and often. Save yourself the trouble.

It's a terrible thing when you're only options are puke or poop.