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Jonah 2 (ESV)

Jonah’s Prayer

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6     at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

 

REFLECTION:

Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. He was in great suffering. God told him to turn from the sin of betraying God’s will. The prayer of Jonah in the belly of the fish taught us the following lessons:

  • Jonah thought it was happiness to escape and stay away from God, and obedience to God was the beginning of suffering; God told him to see the value of being close to God through the experience of being far away from God, so he actively and consciously prayed to God and got close to Him.
  • Jonah saw God’s grace and love in God’s punishment and discipline. The fish originally devoured people, but God made it a refuge for Jonah; God wanted the prophet to see that although Nineveh was like a tiger’s mouth, God could keep him as if he was in the belly of a fish.
  • Jonah’s prayer reflects his familiarity with the Psalms. He was originally a man who has the mind in God, and he could express his thoughts through God’s words. This is an example for us.
  • Jonah was in the belly of the fish as experiencing the pain of death, so he called it the belly of Sheol (2). Although he was isolated from the world in the depths of the sea, his prayers were full of hope in despair, convinced that God would save him. The greater the tribulation, the greater the opportunity to see God’s greater grace.
  • Jonah mentioned the temple twice (4, 7). The temple is a place where people get close to God. It can be seen that he felt the horror of being far away from God in his loneliness and wanted to get close to God.
  • Note that in verse 8, when Jonah mentioned the Gentiles, he still did not have a good impression of them. This became a sign that he could not bear their repentance. This was an incomplete repentance.

 
PRAYER:

Dear Lord, please help me to examine my stubbornness so as not to fall into pain; please help me to know that as long as I am willing to return, You will save me by Your grace.

 

HYMN:
Your Will Be Done – youtu.be/8nLXXephYRI