Jonah 2:1-10 Jonah Prays
Jonah was running from God. God caught him in the belly of a fish. NOW Jonah prays. He gives honor to the Lord, asks for forgiveness, and promises to do better.
The first thing I wonder about when reading Jonah’s story is WHEN did he finally call out to God? We don’t see him calling out while on the ship. We don’t hear him crying for mercy as he is thrown into the sea. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t even ask for help while on his way to the bottom of the sea. What we do see is him finally calling out from the belly of the great fish. Was it immediately though, or on the third day?
I don’t know about you, but I would have been praying while being heaved too and frow on the ship. But Jonah wasn’t ready for repentance; yet. He was stubborn and had apparently decided that he would rather die than go to Nineveh.
Jonah had compassion of his shipmates. When their lives were threatened, he surrendered his life to their hands. “Throw me overboard to save yourselves, for this is from my God as a punishment for my sins.” He was resigned to the idea that he would die that day and not have to deal with God’s call for him. But he didn’t get off that easy!
Jonah discovered, in the belly of the fish, that there are things worse than death. Jonah sat in the great fish, not knowing if his misery would ever end. He survived the storm. He survived drowning, He survived being swallowed by this fish. And, NOW, he got to rot away inside the fish for who knows how long! Being slowly digested as food for the fish.
How much can one man take?! For Jonah, it was enough. Jonah was ready to repent and to do whatever God had called him to do. We don’t see him say the words “I’m sorry” or “Please forgive me”. What we do see is him “remembering God” and finally praying to Him. We also see him make a promise to God. “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to You; what I have vowed I will pay” (verse 9a). And then he left his life in the Lord’s hands.
Jonah didn’t demand his freedom from he fish. He didn’t even ask God to let him finally die. He waited and trusted God to make the decision. “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (verse 9b). And God did save him. “And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon dry land” (verse 10).
I’m wondering about this prayer. It seems to be a prayer of thanksgiving more than anything else. When Johan penned this experience, was the prayer INSIDE the fish combined with the prayer OUTSIDE of it? Jonah had MUCH to be thankful for. 1) being used by the Lord at all, 2) the safety of his shipmates, 3) surviving being thrown overboard and not drowning, 4) God’s preparation of a ‘safe place’ for him to ponder his sins, 6) God even listening to his prayers after all he had done, and 7) being given another chance to do it right the next time.
Something I was thinking about is ‘where’ Jonah was “vomited out”. We know it was dry land, but where after that. In our reading tomorrow we will read that God called out to Jonah again, sending him to Nineveh. We aren’t told how long it took Jonah to get to Nineveh, only that it took three days to walk the whole distance of the city. I’m pretty sure that I’ve never lived in a city THAT big. Back to my question though; how far did Jonah have to travel to get TO Nineveh? Did God have the fish vomit him up on the shores of that great city? Or did he have to travel to get there? And, how long did God wait before calling him again to go to Nineveh? I don’t imagine God waiting too long after this ordeal, otherwise the experience might have faded in his memory.
If you stop and think about this whole event, if it never happened, Jesus wouldn’t have had it to refer back to for His upcoming time in the grave. Even THIS God prepared in advance. Talk about His “finger prints” on the story!
Father God, I know I sometimes wait too long to pray. If I would turn to You RIGHT AWAY, I would probably be a LOT better off. But sometimes I too need time to process the situation and my feelings before I’m ready to admit my fault. Sometimes it takes the lesson in its entirety before I get the message. Jonah learned a lesson that, even though it would fade in memory, it would NEVER be forgotten. PTSD maybe? I wonder if Jonah ever woke up after dreaming he was back in the fish.
Thank You for NEVER giving up on me. You certainly didn’t give up on Jonah or Nineveh! You brought about YOUR will, even though it took a little longer.
