The Bible Binge: Who prays in a Mega Fish Under the Sea? (Jonah 2)

Foxhole prayers

One of the most devastating losses in World War II happened in the Philippines during the Battle of Bataan. The U.S. and Philippine militaries were outnumbered and yet held off the Japanese for serveral months. Finally, they surrendered to the Japanese and in a couple of weeks, thousands lost their lives because of Japanese brutality. It was during this Battle of Bataan, that the phrase was coined, “there are no atheists in foxholes”. Foxholes were a small, shallow hole dug by soldiers that would provide some safety from bullets. And the phrase points to the fact that in times of severe distress and the anxiety over the potential loss of life, people who aren’t religious find themselves praying to a God who up to that point they had no need of. And those prayers are called “Foxhole Prayers.” Prayers said by people turning to prayer when all looks lost...prayers that are prayed as a last resort by people who typically don’t pray.

I tend to think Foxhole Prayers get a bad rap. For one thing, there’s almost always a bit of self-righteousness going on… “they prayed only because they had to, but me… I pray all the time. I’ve always been a prayer. Look at me.” The reality is that we’ve all been there, if we’re honest. Because we also pray this: “Jesus, if you get me out of this mess, I’ll do XYZ for you this week.” We’ve all prayed the foxhole prayers… prayers of last resort, prayers promising God a whole bunch of good works, if he would work this miracle and get me out of the jam I’ve caused myself.

Today’s Bible Binge is a foxhole prayer. In fact, it’s the mother of all foxhole prayers. A foxhole prayer for the ages. Today we’re in Jonah 2 and Jonah 2 is a prayer prayed by Jonah at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea… inside of a huge fish. And we’re going to look at a couple of things here in Jonah 2 today to help us understand just how to pray when we are in great distress.

Jonah in the Mega Fish

To set this up, we need to consider the last verse of Jonah chapter 1:

Jonah 1:17 The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

This may be the most understated verse in all of the Bible. Stated matter of factly, we’re told that God appoints a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. There’s no drama. There is no statement of the fish swallowing Jonah. There is no “And the fish swallowed Jonah”. There’s just… God prepared this fish and Jonah was in the fish 3 days and 3 nights.

We have a hard time with that. In fact, you read some Old Testament theologians and they outright deny this really happened. As if it is one big fish tale. No, this really happened. The entire story is a real event doing some real things in the grand story of Jesus and our redemption as God’s people. In fact, Jesus himself talks about it as if it really happened… we’ll get to that in a moment.

And there’s a lot of speculation as to what kind of fish. The Bible doesn’t say. Most of the speculation is trying to figure out just what fish in the Mediterranean would be capable of carrying something the size of a person. That kind of speculation is a lot of wasted time in my opinion. The text says, God prepared a fish. Just like God threw the storm. This is supernatural. The fish didn’t exist prior to Jonah getting in the boat. God created the fish specifically for Jonah. Just like there’s a lot of useless speculation as to which star formation 2000 years ago could have led the wise men to Jesus. No, that star was a one-off created specifically for that event. The problem in all of these, where it is a fish or star, all sorts of miracles are happening in the story and we have to insist that the features of the story aren’t miracles. In this moment, God himself is entering time and space to do something special. In the storm and in the fish.

And as for Jonah, this is where he finds himself after being on the run from God’s presence. This is not what he had planned. Tries to run, but ends up in the belly of a great fish. And that’s brings us to chapter 2.

Jonah’s Prayer

What would you do if you found yourself inside of a fish at the bottom of the sea? Light a fire and have a conversation with the craftsman who created you? Yeah… we have that story in our pop culture. We’re not going to get into the similarities between Pinocchio and Jonah… but one thing we can say is that Jonah isn’t there to save himself or anyone else. In fact, it becomes very apparent that Jonah is very aware that he cannot save himself.

Jonah 2 just might be the most forgotten piece of the entire Jonah story. Jonah 2 is Jonah’s prayer while he’s in the fish. At the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. In the belly of a fish hundreds of feet down, where he is in isolation. Jonah 2 reads much like a Psalm. In fact, this passage has a lot of similarities of themes we find in the Psalms. Jonah knows Israel’s songbook intimately and he makes use of it when life is at its lowest. The state of Jonah’s life is matched by his physical proximity in the sea… at the bottom. Jonah says:

Jonah 2:2 I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice.

Note the very first word… I called to who? The Lord. The very one that he had been running from. He has nowhere to turn, except to the person and presence he is running from.

“I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol.” You can’t get any lower. He cries out for help, not just in Sheol, but deep inside Sheol. We’re not going to get into all the questions about Sheol.. all we need to know here is that it is a place for the dead and it is considered “down”… all the way down. Jonah’s life hangs on a thread and he is at the bottom of the Mediterranean. Because Sheol is the Jewish name for where the dead go, some have wondered if Jonah actually died in that fish. We’re not told. What we can say is this:

Jonah felt like he was dead. Jonah talks as if he is dead.

He is in a place where there is no sunshine. Ever. And he knows God put him there. In Jonah 1 we’re told that scared sailors threw Jonah overboard, but Jonah knows better. It’s not really the sailors. That was God’s doing. God has him here. God has Jonah where he wants him.

Jonah 2:3 You threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas...All your breakers and your billows swept over me.

You threw me into the depths. All *your* breakers and *your* billows swept over me… the water engulfed me up to my neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. I sank to the foundations of the mountains… (which, by the way, the deepest parts of the Mediterranean are surrounded by mountain ranges).

You threw me into the depths. I get it. This is your doing, God. Jonah knows who has him there. And Jonah is in distress. Jonah has nowhere to go but to the one who has put him there. Jonah is at the end of his rope. He is helpless. He is at the end of his life. The lowest point of this prayer is this:

Jonah 2:6 The earth’s gates shut behind me forever.

At the bottom of the Mediterranean in the belly of a fish… Jonah considers himself to be in Sheol, the place where dead people go. His life on earth is over. And for Jonah, this is hell.

Few people live to tell about going to hell and back. We have all these stories of people who somehow see heaven and come back (a lot of them are made up, by the way; the person in one well-known instance of going to heaven admitting they made it up) Few ever talk or brag about going to hell and coming back. But we have one such instance in the Bible. Or as close as it will get. Jonah saying as much here in chapter 2.

You know what the worst is for Jonah. Jonah realizes he is dying at the bottom of the sea… and twice he mentions this.. and this is the point of the entire prayer:

Jonah 2:4 I will look once more toward your holy temple.

Twice in his prayer, Jonah mentions a desire for the temple. He longs to be in God’s presence. When Jonah is in Sheol… the place where dead people go… at the front of his mind is… I want to be with God. Isn’t that interesting? The very presence he had been running away from… now it’s all he wants. I want God to be with me. At the bottom of the sea in the belly of a fish on the run from God with life leaving the body… that’s a picture of what life is like without God and his presence. To not be in God’s presence, to not have his visible presence, to not have him near, is hell itself.

At the end of the prayer… Jonah has a confession.

Jonah 2:9 Salvation belongs to the LORD.

That’s what makes salvation universal. That’s why the gospel is the answer for Jonah’s racism. Salvation doesn’t belong to us. It’s not ours to withhold for those we don’t like or feel uncomfortable with or dispense for those we do like. Salvation and its forgiveness and its eternal life doesn’t belong to Israel. It doesn’t belong to Jonah. It belongs to the LORD. What the Ninevites need is the same thing Jonah needs… the presence of God that brings salvation and life.

At the bottom of the Mediterranean, in a fish, Jonah is making his confession. He makes his confession to the very one from whom he had been running. People want to know if Jonah was sincere here. As if praying when you’re out of options is somehow bogus. There is absolutely nothing in this prayer that suggests Jonah isn’t sincere. In fact, if you’re in a foxhole, if you’re down to your last breath, this is what we can pray. We desire for God’s presence. We throw ourselves to the mercy of the only one who can help. And we hold fast to the one reality above all: salvation, my salvation, belongs to the Lord. It’s all about Jesus.

Jonah 2:10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Throughout the prayer, Jonah hangs onto the hope that God listens to his people when they pray… and sure enough, God is listening. And God is giving more grace. The next thing you know, Jonah is a new man, a resurrected man from Sheol, a man brought back to life from the bottom of the sea, walking into Nineveh with the good news of the gospel: salvation belongs to the LORD.

Jesus, the New Jonah

Hundreds of years later, there was another Jonah who spent 3 days and 3 nights in Sheol… literally. Jonah did not physically die, but Jesus died. And then he was raised from Sheol, just like Jonah. In fact, this is what Jesus says:

Matthew 12:40 “As Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.”

The story of Jonah is a death and resurrection story that anticipates what Jesus is going to do in saving his people from their sins. And as Jesus says, Jonah is a figure of Jesus in this story. And the words of Jonah 2 are the words of Jesus as went through hell for us. As Jesus prays in anxiety and distress, he is securing our forgiveness and salvation. Salvation belongs to Jesus because he died in isolation for us.

Foxhole prayers. We’ve all done it. We’ve all had those times when we were praying as a last resort. Please hear this: there’s nothing wrong with that. Praying in distress is an admission we need help. There’s never anything wrong with admitting we are in need of help. There’s also nothing wrong, with praying, when your back is against the wall… when this is over, I will give you thanks (which is what Jonah says in Jonah 2). Look, desperate people need Jesus. Desperate people need Jesus to hear. Jonah’s prayer is your prayer. I long to be in your presence. Please hear my cry. Salvation belongs to Jesus.

You know what is missing from this prayer? “Please get me out of here.” Jonah doesn’t ask God to fix the problem. No, this is Jonah being totally raw with Jesus. I need you. The very thing I ran from… I need you. That’s what Jesus wants to hear from us when life is terrible. I need you… the One who saves, I need saving. Now. He’s always listening. And the irony is.. he is always present. FOR YOU. Who prays in a mega fish under the sea? We do. Jonah’s prayer is our prayer: Jesus, we need you. Now.

Let’s pray.

The Table

This is what Jonah longed for in the belly of the fish: The Presence of Jesus. The same presence that Jonah anticipated and wanted we have right here this morning FOR US. In his body and in his blood.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.