Introduction
After running away from God, sailing into the perfect storm, being chucked overboard into an angry sea, and then swallowed whole by a giant fish, the Prophet Jonah decided it was time to pray.
What we find in Jonah chapter two is part prayer, part psalm, and part worship service; all of which took place within the confines of the strangest chapel from which a man ever called upon his God.
Overall, it must be admitted that Jonah is a pretty poor example of a prophet. But in the verses before us, he gives us a pretty good lesson in prayer. That shouldn’t be surprising, because, if we are honest, we often do our best praying when praying is the only thing left to do.
Yet, the truth is that prayer is always the best the thing we can do, even when it is the last thing we do. John Bunyan said, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
Finally, Jonah prayed, and as he does, we are reminded again that this story isn’t about the fish. It’s not even about the prophet inside the fish. This story is about the God who put Jonah in the fish, and then was gracious enough to hear his prayers even from there.
There are three simple lessons we learn from Jonah about prayer and the God who hears it. For one thing, Jonah teaches us something about:
- WHEN YOU CAN PRAY
Jonah chapter 2, verse 1 begins with the word, “then”. “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD…”
Looking at the word “then”, our first question ought to be, “When?” Of course, having read the first chapter, we know the “when” this “then” is referring to. It is “then”, after being cast into the sea; then, after being swallowed by a great fish. That is when Jonah began to pray.
Consider with me what the timing of this prayer can teach us. For one thing, we learn that you can pray:
- At An End Point– Earlier in chapter one, the captain of the ship had begged Jonah to wake up and call upon his God. But Jonah did not.
When everybody else on deck was engaged in a pagan prayer meeting to their various gods, Jonah, the only one who knew the true God, never once prayed a word. Finally, after the mariners prayed for mercy from the Lord God, whom Jonah had yet to petition, they picked him up and tossed him overboard like an anchor into the sea.
And as Jonah began to sink beneath the surface of the water, it saltiness stinging his eyes, filling his nose and mouth, Jonah reached the place where it looked like it was finally too late to pray.
Phillip Cary points out that, “The sailors had obeyed the Lord before it was too late, before they suffered shipwreck, whereas Jonah does not pray until he has hit bottom.”
How often is it that we do the same thing? Out of laziness, stubbornness, or just plain sinfulness we put off seeking the Lord until it is all but too late. And yet, even then, when we hit the bottom and reach the end point, and the light begins to fade around us, there in the valley of the shadow of death, we pray, and like He did for Jonah, the Lord hears us!
It is never too late to pray! Thank God you can call on Him even when you hit rock bottom, even if that rock bottom is the slimy guts of fish in the middle of the sea! When can you pray? Jonah reminds us not only that you can pray at an end point, but furthermore, Jonah’s story reminds us that you can pray:
- At An Earlier Point–I love something a preacher and writer named Russ Reaves says about this text. He writes, “It is never too late to cry out to Him in prayer as long as there is life within us. If only we could learn that it is also never too early!”
Notice with me something Jonah says in verse 2 of chapter 2. He confessed, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD…”
In other words, it was only when Jonah found himself afflicted, on the verge of drowning to death in the sea that he became desperate enough to pray. And yet, think of how much time, and tears, and trouble could have been spared if Jonah had just turned to the Lord at an earlier point in his story!
No, you may not be drowning yet. No, the storm may not even be blowing yet. But why wait until you get wet? Why wait until the Lord has to tear up the ship of your life and toss you helplessly overboard into the raging sea? Maybe you’ve just started your running from God. Maybe you haven’t even it made to Joppa. Maybe you’re just now considering the route of your rebellion.
You don’t have to go any further. Yes, like the Prodigal Son, you can come to your senses surrounded by the smell of hogs and your own body odor. But, you can also turn back to the Father’s House before you ever make it to the far country. You can pray for forgiveness before you waste all your substance and begin to be in want!
Jonah’s story teaches us that you can call on God at the very last minute, but you don’t have to wait hardly that long! He is listening just as intently now as he will be when you’ve hardly got any breath with which to pray!
Looking again at these opening couple of verses in Jonah 2, I think we learn something not only about when you can pray, but Jonah also teaches us about:
- WHERE YOU CAN PRAY
Look again at the opening verse of chapter 2. It says, “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly.”
If you study this chapter it becomes clear that before Jonah prayed from inside the fish, there was a previous prayer offered when he was sinking in the sea.
The prayer referred to in verse one is really a prayer of thanksgiving for the first prayer that had been answered.
Nevertheless, note the last part of verse one. Jonah prayed, “…out of the fish’s belly.” What a strange and yet wonderful place for a man to have his prayer time!
Consider what we learn from this place where Jonah prayed. He reminds us that you too can pray, firstly:
- Where No One Else Can Hear You-We know how muffled and muted things sound under water, but I can only imagine how strange things sound under water, inside the belly of a fish.
Jonah was in a place where nobody else would or ever could hear his prayers. And yet, he was not so far down – so covered over by water and whale – that his prayer could not reach the ear of God.
I know some folks that are absolutely petrified of public prayer. I have a friend named Adam from another church that gets mercilessly teased about the first time he was called on to pray in church.
I asked him, “What did you say?” He said, “Honestly, I don’t remember. It’s like one of those traumatic childhood experiences. I’ve blocked it out.”
Truth be told, I think that a lot of the public prayer that goes on in church is more for the ears of the audience than the Almighty. But the good news is that you don’t even have to be able to pray publicly to pray properly. I love something Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount.
In Matthew 6:6, Jesus said, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
The belly of a great fish was a strange prayer closet indeed, but the secret prayer of Jonah was heard by the Father who sees and hears what goes on in secret. Where no one else can hear you – when no one else will listen to you – you can pray, and He will hear!
Jonah reminds us not only that you can pray where no one else can hear you, but also:
- Where No One Else Can Help You– Even if somehow Jonah’s cries from inside the belly of this great fish could make it through the surface of the water, where one of those sailors might faintly hear it, there was nothing they could do for him.
Jonah was in a place where no one else could do anything to save him. Notice how he described it in verse 2. The King James reads, “…out of the belly of hell [I] cried…”
The idea behind the word translated “hell” there is the place of the dead. It is the Hebrew word Sheol. Jonah was saying that out of the place of his own death he cried unto the Lord.
Phillip Cary makes a great point here. He said, “To be in Sheol is simply to be dead, beyond all help unless God can give life to what is dead.” Then he said this, “To be with Jonah at this point in his story is to be where only Jesus Christ can visit and save you.”[i]
As believers in the gospel, we know that prior to our salvation we were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. We could not save ourselves, and there was no one around us that could raise us from our deadness. But then Jesus came! He who had died and rose from the dead was able to raise us from our deadness and give us new life!
Even in the place where no one else can hear you or help you, there is a God whose ear is not deaf that it cannot hear and whose hand is not shortened that it cannot save!
I was sinking deep in sin,
Far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within,
Sinking to rise no more,
But the Master of the Sea,
Heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me,
Now safe am I!
Looking once more at this passage, we learn from Jonah’s prayer not only when you can pray, and where you can pray, but we are also reminded of:
III. WHY YOU CAN PRAY
There is a sense in which the only reason Jonah could even offer this prayer from inside the fish was because the Lord had prepared the great fish to swallow him in the first place.
And yet, there is an even deeper reason for Jonah to be able to cry out at this time and in this place and still be heard by His God.
Though you and I will never be in quite the same place as Jonah was when he prayed to the Lord, the same principles are at work for us whenever and wherever we pray.
Why can you pray? First of all, it is:
- Because Of A Relationship To God- Notice carefully what the text says again in verse one. We read, “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly.”
For most of chapter one Jonah acted like he didn’t even know God, running from Him and His call. Yet through it all nothing had changed the fact that Jonah belonged to this God.
Jonah was an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, one of the people with which God had made a covenant. The only reason Jonah could now turn his eyes and prayers toward heaven from deep inside the fish, deep beneath the waters, was because God had not broken His covenant with Jonah. They still had a relationship!
Today God has a New Covenant with His people, one that has been signed and secured by Jesus Christ, His only Son. Jesus shed His own blood on the cross to pay for our sins and bring us into a relationship with a Holy God. He rose from the dead and now He is seated beside the Father, acting as our Great High Priest.
For those of us who have believed upon Jesus, so long as He lives, our relationship with God cannot and will not change. No matter how long it has been, no matter how far you have gone, you can still pray to God, but only because the Son of God still lives and ever lives to make intercession for you!
Jonah can pray from within the belly of the fish, not only because of the relationship to God, but furthermore, it is:
- Because Of The Response From God- Notice again what Jonah says in verse 2. We read, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.”
It is one thing for God to be able to hear Jonah’s voice from inside the fish’s belly, underneath who knows how many feet of sea water. That is miraculous, but what is even more remarkable is not just that God audibly heard Jonah’s prayer, but that He actually listened to it.
The reason Jonah can pray is not so much because he is now finally speaking, but rather because His God was faithfully listening.
When we lift our voices in prayer, what really makes it work is not so much that something is being said on our end. It works because something is being heard on God’s end! It is His response to us in prayer that makes our requests to Him powerful and effective!
The good news is that He is always on the line! Like Jonah, whenever we need to and determine to, we can pray because there is a God who loves us for Christ’s sake and listens as Father does to the cries of His children!
Conclusion
Though a poor example of a prophet, Jonah is a pretty good example of prayer. Yet, once again we learn even more when we look beyond Jonah to Jesus, who chose to identify Himself with this rebellious preacher.
Jonah cried unto Lord His God out of the belly of the fish. Jesus too cried unto His God, out of the hell of the cross on which He hung and died.
From the darkness of the inside of a fish, Jonah cried, and Lord did not forsake him.
Yet, from the darkness of Calvary, Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!” Think about that!
The prayer of the forsaken was the prayer Jonah should have prayed. It is the prayer you and I should have to pray as well. And yet, Jesus went to cross and was forsaken for our sake. He prayed that prayer from the hell of His torment so that you and I in the midst of ours would never have to!
Whoever you are; wherever you are, it’s time to pray. It’s not too late to call out to your God and Savior. If He heard and rescued Jonah, can He not hear and rescue you?
Souls in danger look above,
Jesus completely saves,
He will lift you by His love,
Out of the angry waves,
He’s the Master of the Sea,
Billows His will obey,
He your Savior wants to be,
Be saved today!
Dr. Antione K. Eakins, Sr.
Pastor/Teacher