Jonah 1:17 KJV
“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.”

Reading through the book of Jonah, you may assume that Jonah entering the stomach of a fish was the judgment of God.

You may think that God only wanted to punish Jonah for his disobedience and rebellion.

However, when we look at the bigger picture, God allowing the fish to swallow Jonah eventually did two things for Jonah.

First, God did not want Jonah to die by drowning. If the fish had not come to take Jonah, no matter how skilled Jonah was at swimming, he would eventually have drowned and died. That fish was God’s way of saying that He was still interested in preserving Jonah.

Secondly, that fish was God’s strategy for making Jonah remember Nineveh. Jonah may have done everything with his life, but if he did not go to Nineveh, his life would have been a waste.

There are times when God has spoken to you, the word has gone ahead, prophecy has gone ahead, yet you are still rebelling against the voice and word of God. God will send you to a fish.

It is when you get to the fish that you will remember, “God has called me to Nineveh. What am I doing here? God has called me as an evangelist. What am I doing in this business? God has called me to be an entrepreneur. What am I doing in this office?”

Sometimes, it looks like office politics is against you. It may be God’s way of bringing His word back to your remembrance.

You may think that the business is just failing. However, God may be allowing it to fail so you remember!

You may assume that the environment is in darkness. God may be causing it to be so just so you remember His word!

When God really wants to show Jonah mercy, He puts him in a fish and sends him back to his place of assignment.

Your fish may be your boss, your landlord, your colleagues, or areas of frustration. God most times allows it to be so, just so you return to His perfect will.

God is interested in you fulfilling destiny. He can do anything to make it happen!