Bible Reading

Jonah Chapter 2 - In My Distress, I Cried Out To The Lord

Even in the depths of the sea, mercy can find us.

Written by

Anne

|

2 min read

Contents

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.’

Related Topics

Jonah

Humility

Prayer

See Also

Jonah Chapter 3 - The Generous Mercy of God

Jonah Chapter 3 - The Generous Mercy of God

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:3-4). Jonah Chapter 3 records a classic example of this exact sentiment. It records the story of prophet Jonah preaching to the people of Nineveh, and the repentance of Nineveh. When looking at the story of Nineveh’s repentance, there is a sense of comfort that we can find for ourselves. Just as God forgave the people of Nineveh when they were sincerely repentant, we also have confidence that God has the mercy to forgive us for our sins today if we repent with a sincere heart. We however should not grow complacent just because we think God will be merciful with us. Within this chapter, we see the lengths that the people went to in order to seek forgiveness from God. First, verse 6 records that the king himself mourned in sackcloth and sat in ashes. Verse 7 to 9 then record the decree made by the king, mandating fasting and mourning for all his people, driving them all to repentance before God. Take a moment to reflect on this, is this the state we want to reach before we finally turn to God? Although the people of Nineveh were ultimately spared, let us not be deceived, it was a sorry state that they were in. Furthermore, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:26 that “if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins”. God’s love abounds and His mercy is plentiful, but let us be careful never to take advantage of this love and mercy. Jonah’s story also teaches us about how we should treat others who we ourselves may deem as sinful. The narrative of the Book of Jonah centers around Jonah refusing to preach to Nineveh due to his hatred for the city and his skepticism that its people would change. When we read the story of Jonah, we are quick to say that Jonah’s attitude was not right. However, when we look at our peers around us, do we also unknowingly adopt Jonah’s mindset? Are we quick to judge people? To fit them into certain labels and refrain from helping them in their faith? Something we must remember is that God desires all men to be saved. Every soul is precious in the sight of God. If this is the case, as servants of God, we must fulfill his will and try to save every soul regardless of our perception of them. All in all, we have received this gift of love and mercy from God. We ought to share this wonderful gift with others.

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