Fishing poles, Bait and Seaweed

Key Verse: “I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head. I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O LORD my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!” Jonah 2: 5-6 (NLT)

 I love to go fishing. I guess it comes from living in a small country town with its creeks and streams and spending time fishing with my dad growing up. Dad always knew what special fishing pole he would need and what bait to use for the type of fish you were casting for. I helped my dad many times tie flies for catching trout and digging worms for red-eye and bluegill. I even helped him add grape Kool-Aid to bait to catch carp a couple of times. 

I  have often wished it was that easy to know what bait to use to fish for souls as it is for the natural kind.  

 I have spent a lot of years praying for lost family members and family out of fellowship with the Lord. Days have turned into years waiting to see them surrender their lives to Jesus. When you know you are going to be spending eternity in heaven, it is just natural to want those closest to you to be there with you. There are times It is easy to become discouraged and doubt God can reach them.  

I made a statement recently that it is like the enemy has everything strategically planned and put in place to stop them from turning to God. Whenever you see God moving in their lives, they seem to go farther away. 

Sometimes God has to remind me exactly who it is that is in charge.  

Jonah was one of God’s people. God would have never chosen him for the task of preaching to Nineveh if he hadn’t been.  We all know the story of how he rebelled against God and ran from God’s plan for his life. Jonah ran but he couldn’t outrun God.  

I was studying on Hosea 6:1 that says,

“Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” (CSB)

God gave Israel an invitation to return to Him after they had sinned against Him. They like Jonah had gone the opposite way than God had planned for them. God told them to return and what He had smitten he would bind up and heal. 

It was interesting to me that the words “bind up” in that scripture have the same meaning in Hebrew text for Jonah’s head wrapped in seaweed. Jonah’s prayer to God from the fish’s belly in Jonah 2:5-6 reads,

“I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head. I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O LORD my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!” Jonah 2: 5-6 (NLT)

My first thought was how could God binding up the smitten with healing possibly mean the same as seaweed wrapped around Jonah’s head? It was because of what God did with that ordinary seaweed. 

I previously just envisioned Jonah becoming entangled with seaweed while inside of the fish’s belly. But the seaweed wrapped around his head before the fish swallowed Jonah.

So, why does it matter whether before or after or what does the seaweed have to do with anything?  

God used the seaweed to bind up Jonah just like you would bind up a cut or wound so it would heal. A bandage protects a cut from bacteria and germs until it has time to heal. God used the seaweed to prepare Jonah for the fish to give him the time needed to heal by coming to repentance. It served as his protective covering while inside the fish’s belly. The seaweed would have been what dissolved in the fish’s stomach leaving Jonah intact.  Do we serve a pretty awesome God or what? 

 Just like my dad knew exactly what type of bait to tempt fish to bite, no doubt the seaweed made Jonah more tempting to the fish as well. All the strategic plans of the Master Fisherman. 

The enemy doesn’t just try to hinder my lost family today but he plotted and schemed against Jonah as well. It was the enemy who put in Jonah’s heart like my lost family to rebel against God. It was also the enemy who put in his heart not to want to show mercy to Nineveh. 

 I’m sure the enemy thought he had won the day that Jonah was thrown overboard in the storm. But despite all the tricks of the enemy on Jonah’s life God was able to devise a plan to restore Jonah and use him for his purpose. 

God had something as small as a bunch of seaweed all in place to prepare Jonah for repentance. It was then during the three days in the belly of a great fish Jonah’s heart once again was humbled to be obedient to the Lord.

I am reminded when I look at God’s word that no matter how far my lost family has run from God, there is still hope. I forget at times that God is the ultimate fisherman of men and He always knows what bait to use to draw them to the cross.  With Jonah, it was seaweed, for evil king Manasseh He used an Assyrian army and a prison cell in Babylon and for the prodigal son financial ruin, hunger, and a pigpen. 

All of which leads me to believe that I can trust that the Master Fisherman of men will also know which bait to use for my family as well.  

Writing this devotion has made me reminisce about my dad who has gone on to heaven. My mom had prayed for him many years before he turned to Jesus.  There were many nights me and my mom would go to church services without him. 

During her wait to see him saved, she too wondered if he would turn to God in time. But God knew what bait to use to reel in my dad. He simply turned my dad’s liquor to water right before he reached for a cup of new wine.  One night on an old fashioned altar, He gave him a taste for the things of God that would be stronger than anything the world had previously offered him. A man whose life and family’s life were forever changed because of the Master Fisherman.  

Today, I will take courage in remembering past fishing trips, fishing poles, bait, and seaweed while waiting on this river bank of life waiting for the Master Fisherman to reel some souls in. All the while wondering with anticipation what bait he will use. 

See you in the Field,

Susan