Prayer a dark place

Jonah 2

¹Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. ² He said,

“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble,
    and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead,
    and Lord, you heard me!
³ You threw me into the ocean depths,
    and I sank down to the heart of the sea.
The mighty waters engulfed me;
    I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
⁴ Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence.
    Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’

⁵ “I sank beneath the waves,
    and the waters closed over me.
    Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
⁶ I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
    I was imprisoned in the earth,
    whose gates lock shut forever.
But you, O Lord my God,
    snatched me from the jaws of death!
⁷ As my life was slipping away,
    I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
    in your holy Temple.
⁸ Those who worship false gods
    turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
⁹ But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
    and I will fulfill all my vows.
    For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”

Have you ever felt like you’re sinking? Like there are weeds wrapped around your head? They may be the weeds of difficult circumstances and stresses rather than actual physical weeds, but you still have some idea of how Jonah felt.

Let’s look at the series of events. Jonah tried to run away from God, but the storm God sent caused his sin to be exposed and eventually led to him being thrown overboard, at which point two things happened – the storm stopped (and the sailors vowed to worship the Lord!), and Jonah sank into the ocean, where a giant fish swallowed him. Then, in this passage, Jonah humbles himself and calls out to God. He thanks God for rescuing him and turns back to Him with praise and a declaration that the Lord, alone, can bring salvation.

While the physical circumstances are different, it’s likely that we have all had times when we have avoided God and then found that the stresses of life have become overwhelming. But God gave us the wonderful gift of prayer. He is always there, ready to listen, waiting for us to call out to Him. Like Jonah, we can acknowledge that our actions have caused us to be separated from Him (1:12). Like Jonah, we can call out to God in our distress (2:2-6). And, like Jonah, we can worship Him again (2:8-9), with praise and earnestness, knowing that our “salvation comes from the Lord alone”.

Father, you are the maker of heaven and earth, and you are above all things. I don’t want to turn my back on you. But when I do, thank you that you provide a way back to you. Thank you that when I truly cry out to you, you draw near. I know that you are the only true God, and I want to praise you forever.

Written by Megan Cornell