The earliest migraine I remember was when I was about 15-years-old. I was greatly worried about something and that led to a migraine. I’ve learned over the years that worry leads to stress which triggers a migraine. Fortunately, I only get them a few times a year. I know some people suffer from them much more frequently.

When I used to get one, my only hope was to take a dose and a half of Nyquil and try to fall asleep. Usually, it would take hours before sleep would come. In the meantime, the pain was excruciating. The pain is like a throbbing ice pick in the corner of my eye.

Then about five or six years ago, I discovered a medicine that knocked out the pain in less than 30 minutes. I asked my doctor about getting a prescription. He gave it to me, but also suggested an MRI to rule out any “vascular abnormalities.”

If you’ve ever had an MRI, you know you lie down on a table, which then slides into a very tight tube. I don’t do well in tight spaces, so I knew it would be best to keep my eyes closed during the testing. Even as I exited the machine, I kept my eyes closed just in case I ever had to undergo another MRI. I didn’t want to have memories of being inside the tube. That was a good idea since a few years later I needed an MRI on my neck.

I think each MRI was around 20 minutes. Maybe a little longer. Had I opened my eyes, I’m sure it would have felt more like 20 hours. I don’t even want to think about it.

So I can’t imagine what it was like for Jonah who found himself inside a fish for three days. I doubt he had much room to move around. It wasn’t like Hans Solo’s ship inside the monster’s stomach. Jonah was in a tight spot. For three days.

How did he find himself inside a fish?

Jonah didn’t like God’s plan so he’d gone his own way, but God wasn’t giving up on Jonah. He stirred up a violent storm, a storm so bad that Jonah told the sailors the only way to save themselves was to throw him overboard. The moment they did, God calmed the sea.

I guess Jonah expected to drown, but God had another plan. He brought along a fish big enough to swallow a man.

That’s where Jonah cried out to God. You can read his prayer here.

Part of Jonah’s prayer was this:

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”

I don’t know what idols Jonah was clinging to, but they caused him to go his own way, to reject God’s call. In the process, he put himself in danger and endangered the lives of those around him.

Fortunately, God’s grace is abundant. It even reaches into the stomach of a fish to find a man who’s running from Him.

Whether we actively or ignorantly move in the wrong direction, I wonder if God allows us to get into tight spots. Because He knows that’s when we’ll cry out to Him. Maybe a tight spot is the best place to recognize the worthless idols we’re clinging to–the things we thought would bring us life, but can never deliver on what they promise.

The money, the things it can buy, the job, the person we can’t live without, our looks, the opinions of others, the size of our business or church or ministry–they can all be idols.

Idols, which by the grace of God, can lead us to tight spots.