God told him what to do, and he did the exact opposite thing. It took a ship-sinking storm to bring him to bear.
Jonah ended up going into the water but God had other transportation arranged for him and a big fish swallowed him up and took him back the other way.
While in the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed. What do you think he had to say to God?
This is the surprising bit. Jonah prayed a psalm of thanksgiving! Tossed into the Mediterranean Sea in the middle of a storm and swallowed by a big fish, Jonah said thank you to God.
I was surprised to find this out myself. While studying Jonah 2 to share with my small group, I came upon this unlikely bit of knowledge.
A song of thanksgiving has a specific pattern or formula. If you look at Jonah’s prayer, it follows exactly that pattern
- Introduction: The individual begins by offering praise to God and gives the motive for praise
- Main Section: Narration of past experience
- Portrayal of the distress
- Recollection of the cry for help
- God’s response
- Conclusion: Praise to God for deliverance
If you look at the prayer in Jonah chapter 2, it’s amazing. I mapped it out below in a my words to condense it down to the essential message.
Introduction: 2:2
I called out to God in my distress when my hope was failing, and You, God, answered my call.
Main Section: Jonah’s cry for help: 2:3-6a
I was cast into the stormy sea and sank below the waves to a death so certain that I considered myself dead already. As I sank I said “I am being driven from You, God, but as I go, I will direct my prayers toward Your temple.”
Conclusion: God’s response: 2:6b-9
And You, God, saved me from death. Before it was too late, You heard my prayer in Your holy temple and responded. I will complete my thanksgiving by offering a sacrifice and following through on my promises.
Jonah’s prayer is all about how thankful he is that God saved him from death in the sea. After disobeying God and running away from his assignment in Nineveh, Jonah certainly deserved God’s wrath and punishment. But God chose to save him.
Jonah had a very clear picture of what was going on. He did not miss the fact that God had every right to demand judgment for his rebellious action. So while the accommodations weren’t great, Jonah was thankful that God showed mercy.
Let’s turn this around and put it into our own lives.
What kind of situations do you find yourself in where, objectively, it seems pretty dark? How could you look to God and offer up a prayer of thanksgiving? What event would you look back to and tell God thanks?
If you want to get creative about it, write out your prayer of thanksgiving and try to follow the same formulat the Jonah did.
This is a uniquely Christian perspective. Normally when things get dark, people look for who to blame or complain to get pity. But we who believe have a different perspective and can always look back to the fact that we are not getting what we deserve.
Here’s another fun fact about Jonah 2. While he was in the belly of the fish praying, Jonah spoke almost no words of his own. Just about everything he prayed is a quote or a paraphrase of something in scripture. Steeped in God’s word, he quotes it back to God as a unique expression of his own predicament.
I know I couldn’t do that under the best circumstances, let alone while sitting in a puddle of fish stomach acid. How would you fare?
I recently presented a lesson on this chapter in m small group. In support of the chapter I put out a document that showed how almost everything Jonah prayed was borrowed from somewhere in scripture. You can find a copy here on my website if you want to use it as a reference for yourself.
Jonah may ultimately be someone we don’t want to model our lives after. But he shows us the value of thanksgiving. So we can appreciate the lesson he offers us and move forward.
Happy reading and studying!
Dennis
PS.
I am thankful for you. I appreciate that you’re part of my reader community and that you’ve even read this far through the email.
A few days ago I got a pretty harsh one star review. It said: “Don’t waste your time. This book is a waste of money. Get Kay Arthur’s book instead.”
Ouch. I certainly don’t begrudge Kay Arthur the shout out. I have several of her studies on my shelf. But its’ sad to hear that I wasn’t able give that reader something they found valuable.
Reading the review turned my day pretty dark for a while. Then I thought of you and all the others like you who have read the books and enjoyed them and that brightened things back up.
I hope you got value and continue to get even more value.
