When Jonah fled to Tarshish instead of Nineveh as God instructed, he was thrown into the sea as sacrifice by the men on the ship to calm God’s raging waves. As he spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a big fish, we see a gradual change in the attitude of Jonah, his prayer of repentance and how this brought him to look towards God again.

How sensitive are we to sins we should repent for? How then should we appear before God in such prayers?

‘All Your Billows and Your Waves Passed Over Me’

Jonah pours out his sorrows to the Lord from the belly of the fish — what does God esteem as precious in prayers? Prayers are themselves offerings we make (Psalm 141:2).

In the Old Testament, gifts are brought to the Lord — tithes, spices, expensive oil and even animals. However, God values obedience over sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). He even chastens the Israelites for bringing offerings but not living out His teachings (Amos 5:21-24).

As we offer our prayers to God, He values our broken spirit and contrite heart (Psalm 51). Only when we appear before God as such can we be humble in admitting our weaknesses and seeking God’s wisdom.

How does humility before God transform the way we live and treat others?

‘Yet I will Look Again At Your Holy Temple’

Jonah understood his mistake and disobedience of running away from his responsibility of going to Nineveh, the city God had sent him to. However, he chose to look towards God again in his prayers, even hoping that God will accept his remorse.

‘And my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple’

He understood that salvation came from the Lord and recognised his small being as compared to the Holy image of God. Similar to how David repented in his prayer recorded in Psalm 51, do we ask for God to restore the joy of His salvation to us, that we may also be upheld to leave sin?

How can we ask God to guide us in the transformation of ourselves from sin to sinless?

In our daily lives, it is crucial that we be sensitive to opportunities that allow us to grasp onto the Lord. When we are willing to admit our shortcomings and choose to return to God to guide us, we witness how great His mercy is and can be transformed to become more like Christ.

‘So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.’