Deep Despair - Jonah

If you have been through a storm in your life, if you have found yourself in the belly of the beast, if you are suffering as a consequence of disobedience or even through no fault of your own, then the prayer of Jonah is for you. You’ll identify with it, learn from it, and be comforted by it.

Instead of focusing on what happened inside the fish, let’s look at what happened inside of Jonah.

Jonah’s prayer is a powerful reminder that, even if we forsake God, He never forsakes us. Even though Jonah was on the run from God, he could not escape the loving embrace of God’s arms. He had been running, running, running. Finally, he ended up in a place where he could run no longer—the belly of the fish. He couldn’t run, couldn’t move, and couldn’t breathe, yet the Lord granted him enough breath with which to pray.

couldn’t run, couldn’t move, and couldn’t breathe, yet the Lord granted him enough breath with which to pray.

Youssef, Michael. Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (p. 132). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. He never forsakes us. Even though Jonah was on the run from God, he could not escape the loving embrace of God’s arms. He had been running, running, running. Finally, he ended up in a place where he could run no longer—the belly of the fish. He couldn’t run, couldn’t move, and couldn’t breathe, yet the Lord granted him enough breath with which to pray.

Youssef, Michael. Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (pp. 132-133). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Youssef, Michael. Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (pp. 130-131). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Probingly Honest (vs. 1-6)

Jonah doesn’t play the victim

Jonah isn’t blaming God, he is simply acknowledging his reality.

His situation was bleak and it was bleak because he was in the consequences of his sin.

Jonah isn’t out for sympathy

Through his own spiritual defection, Jonah has cut himself off from everything that mattered to him.

Penitently Genuine (vs. 8)

Penitently Genuine

In regarding “vain idols” Jonah had taken his eyes off of the One whom he had served.

Jonah acknowledged that God had not forsaken him, but he had forsaken God.

Jonah refused to play the “if”, “then” game with God.

Owning your role in the scenario is important.

The idea of penitence is the idea of attaching the consequence to the action and not the judgment.

Jonah’s failure to follow God was the root cause of his current dilemma.

Filled with Praise (vs. 9)

Jonah praised God…before the answer!

Jonah determined that in spite of the circumstances he was going to praise God in the moment.

1979 song by the Imperials entitled: Praise the Lord: “When you are up against a struggle that has shattered all of your dreams. And your hopes have been cruelly crushed by Satan’s manifested schemes. When you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fears, don’t let the faith you’re standing in seem to disappear. PRAISE THE LORD!”

Jonah had no way of knowing whether he would be delivered, yet he chose to praise God.

In , “He ANSWERED me”, You HEARD my voice”. In , “You have BROUGHT up my life”.

Jonah doesn’t ask for anything in this prayer, instead he thanks God for the deliverance he expects to receive!

This is a gift, and an art, and a spiritual discipline to learn to praise God in the midst of the crisis.

In , Paul and Silas prayed in the prison cell praising God.

Claim the Promise

Compare verse 2 to:

Psalm 18:4-6

Psalm 18:4–6 NASB95

The cords of death encompassed me, And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me. The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

Psalm 86:13 NASB95

For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Psalm 120:1 NASB95

In my trouble I cried to the Lord, And He answered me.

Lamentations 3:53–56 NASB95

They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me. Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!” I called on Your name, O Lord, Out of the lowest pit. You have heard my voice, “Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help.”

Compare verse 4 to:

Psalm 31:22 NASB95

As for me, I said in my alarm, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried to You.

Psalm 5:7 NASB95

But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.

Compare verse 6 to:

Psalm

Psalm 30:3 NASB95

O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.

Isaiah 38:7 NASB95

“This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken:

Isaiah 38:17 NASB95

“Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

Compare verse 7 to:

Psalm 18:6 NASB95

In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

Compare verse 9 to:

Psalm 3:8 NASB95

Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah.

Pslam 3:8

We come to God, offering Him our sacrifices, acknowledging that we have nothing to cling to but His grace, nothing to claim but His promises, nothing to brag about but His extravagant, unconditional love.

Look at verse 10

Jonah 2:10 NASB95

Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

CONCLUSION

When Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish, he didn’t know how God would deliver him or when God would deliver him. He didn’t even know if God would deliver him alive, safe and sound, on dry land, or if his deliverance would take the form of physical death. He simply trusted that God, in His own sovereign way and by His own sovereign choice, would deliver him from the belly of that fish.

Youssef, Michael. Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (p. 145). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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