20 - The Deep Prayer

 # 20 – The Deep Prayer

Jonah 1:1-9 - Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. ² And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. ³ For You cast me into the deep, nto the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your billows and Your waves passed over me. ⁴ Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ ⁵ The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head. ⁶ I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. ⁷ “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple. ⁸ “Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. ⁹ But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.”

It’s very interesting that the text says, “Then Jonah prayed…” This gives us an impression that after spending three days and three nights in the belly of the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord. One can’t imagine all that Jonah went through during those three days and three nights, alone and in a very strange place. Not only was Jonah conscious physically and mentally, but he was also conscious of the fact that he had been swallowed whole by a big fish. What an eventful few hours Jonah has just had with the tempest, and it then gets even more eventful with a once-in-the-history-of-the-world-incident. Through it all, Jonah seemed quite adamant and rebellious in spirit it appears. Was he hoping he’d get digested and the ordeal with God would be over once and for all? It’s obvious he could not sit, stand, or lie restful while in the belly of the fish, but he remained obstinate for three days and three nights nonetheless.

Then he begins praying to the Lord, from the most amazing of all prayer rooms ever. It’s at a dark constantly changing location and depth, where he’s surrounded by stomach juices and weeds, reaching depths of the earth that no human would ever have been to, which he refers to as the moorings of the mountains. This prayer room is a living submarine as it were, with no windows through which to peek outside though.

“And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.”

We now get a glimpse of the prayer that Jonah prayed to the Lord. The first thing he says is that he cried out to the Lord because of his affliction. Isn’t that one of the most common reasons why we cry out to the Lord today as well? When things go well, most of us forget about God and live our lives as if we didn’t need Him at all, but when troubles come our way, and after we’ve made futile attempts at rescuing ourselves, we then turn to God for help.

The next thing we hear from Jonah is the fact that when He cried out to the Lord out of his affliction, the Lord answered him. What an assurance we have even today, knowing that when we cry out to the Lord, He answers us and doesn’t keep us guessing or waiting indefinitely for an answer. He says to the Lord, “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” The Hebrews believed that Sheol was the place the dead go to and he refers to himself as being in Sheol, which means he saw himself as good as dead and must have been wondering what he was doing staying alive. When he cried out to the Lord from a place as good as dead, the Lord heard his voice – what a comforting thought to some of us who might be going through situations right now where we feel we’re as good as dead – the Lord is able to hear us, if only we are willing to cry out to Him.

Even as The Church at large, we could be feeling the same way at present – like we are in a dark place, restless, not knowing what to do with this never disappearing global pandemic. Some people have even come to the point of frustration and desperation and have even lost the will to live. But even in those times, the Lord is able to hear us, if we are willing to cry out to Him.

For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your billows and Your waves passed over me.

Jonah goes on to say to the Lord that it was He who threw him into the sea. He doesn’t attribute his being in the sea to the sailors, but rather to God. This means that he was implying that God had a hand in the casting of the lots so that it fell on him. Jonah knew the Lord enough to know that if the Lord wanted to do something, no one and nothing could get in His way and he could use strange methods of seeking guidance, He could use unbelieving men to carry out his purposes so as to accomplish what He would have accomplished through His people.

The same is true of us The Church today as well. If we don’t do what we were called and chosen to do, the Lord can do whatever it takes to remind us of our calling and purpose in life – even if it means casting us away for a season or letting us go through a time of persecution. It’s for this reason that I’ve been alluding to the fact that this global pandemic has been sent by the Lord Himself to wake up us The Church from our slumber.

Jonah referred to himself being in the deep, at the heart of the earth, where he was surrounded by water as if by a flood and billows and waves passed over him. Though he could not see all these things, he was quite aware of them at the time. That must not have been a good feeling for Jonah to be experiencing – far from any help of any kind. The sad thing is that even if the fish were passing near another ship or near the shore, no one would have ever dreamt that there was a human being inside a fish crying out for help. How was he going to be rescued now? He was praying to the God of the Universe who was capable of whipping up a tempest that was not humanly manageable, causing a fish to swallow him whole, but could the Lord now answer his prayer?

Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.

Jonah goes on to tell the Lord that he has been cast out of His sight. Though an impossibility as no one and nothing can be hidden from God’s sight that perhaps was how Jonah was feeling at the moment. Isn’t that how we feel at times in our own lives? Not only does it feels like we’ve been completely deserted by all those close to us, but the worst part is that we sometimes feel like we’ve been deserted by God Himself. Impossible as it is, as God will never leave us nor forsake us, the circumstances we are sometimes in cause us to feel this way.

But in the same breath when Jonah feels cast out from God’s sight, he quickly makes a decision to look again toward God’s holy temple. The Jews had the habit of looking towards Jerusalem while praying, but this was not what he was referring to when he said, “I will look again toward your holy temple,” because given the circumstance he was in at the time, there was no way to tell which direction was Jerusalem as he had no point of reference from within the belly of the fish. What he was referring to was heaven, where God Himself dwells forever. Praise God that we don’t need to look toward any city to pray to God anymore, because God no longer reveals His glory in temples or buildings made by man, but dwells in heaven and we have access to Him through faith in His Son Jesus Christ, whose atoning death on our behalf tore the veil, thereby giving us access to God through Him.

The wonderful thing about Jonah at that point of time was that he made a decision to get back to God, and when we go through a crisis, that’s the best thing we can do – get back to God, or get closer to God. The worst thing one could ever do in a crisis situation is to walk away from God, because He is the only one who can help us when no one else can.

The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head.

Jonah goes on to explain what he was feeling and experiencing. He felt like his entire soul was being drowned; that’s not a good feeling to have, when you begin to lose all hope and determination to carry on. However strong a person might be, when the person begins to lose hope and begins to quit, then defeat is inevitable. He says that the deep closed in around him – another term to refer to the deep sea burying him alive. He adds a physical detail as well. All the weeds that the fish was consuming was getting wrapped around his head and would have made it a lot more difficult for him than it already was.

Sometimes, we individuals, and as The Church at large, we can go through difficulties that seem to suggest that we are fighting a losing battle and quitting seems like the only solution. Discomfort adds to discomfort and fighting for survival becomes less of a fight and more of a surrender.

I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.

Jonah goes on to give more vivid details that he could have only known by God revealing them to him as there was no way he could have known these details from the inside of the fish. He says that he went down to the moorings of the mountains, meaning the very base of the mountains at the bottom of the sea. It seemed like he was being imprisoned behind the bars of the earth as it were and not only so, but he adds another heart-gripping detail – the word, ‘forever.’ To have to go through difficulties and see light at the end of the tunnel is one thing, but to get the feeling like it’s going to be forever, is a feeling that can be really disheartening. But once again, while providing these depressing details, he speaks words of faith and hope of God’s deliverance from his predicament. He refers to himself being in the pit – perhaps referring to hell itself. He then refers to God as “O Lord, my God.” A beautiful reference to God and one that’s really important when one is going through difficult times because it’s only when God becomes our Lord and our God can any real lasting change take place in one’s life. The fact that God is God of the Universe means nothing to me, unless and until He becomes the Lord of my life.

When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple.

Jonah goes on to say that when his soul fainted – when he was losing all hope of survival, he did something that made all the difference between victory and defeat – he remembered the Lord. As was mentioned earlier, the one person who can make a difference in impossible situations is God Himself, but in those difficult, impossible situations, if we don’t choose to remember the Lord, then we are choosing to ignore His ability to help. When he uses the words “remembered the Lord,” he’s not using it to mean that he had forgotten the Lord until then, but rather to mean that he then chose to acknowledge God as the Lord of his life and the one who could make a difference to his situation and so to seek His help.

He then addresses God and says that his prayer went up to God and he adds another detail – into your holy temple. He’s making a reference again to heaven, where God dwells forever. Isn’t it amazing that prayers by mere mortal human beings like us can reach into the very presence of God? Should that not be a motivating thought to cause us to pray more to the Lord, knowing that He hears, answers, and can make a difference to our impossible situations?

Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy.

Jonah suddenly makes a reference to people who don’t know this amazing God and says that those who regard or worship idols, forsake the mercy of God that they could otherwise experience. He refers to the idols as worthless, since they are inanimate and cannot hear, see, think, feel, or do anything to help us in our situations.

When he uses the words, ‘forsake their own mercy, he is perhaps referring to the mercy he believes he is about to receive from God when God delivers him from the belly of the fish. He seems to be saying that since he believes in the one true God, he is sure of experiencing God’s mercy in response to his prayer to God and in the same breath seems to be saying that those who don’t worship God but who rather worship idols don’t experience this amazing aspect of God’s nature – mercy. By not experiencing mercy is to experience judgment because they have rejected the Creator of the universe and instead chosen to worship His creation instead. By forsaking God’s mercy, one is choosing God’s wrath instead.

But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.

After referring to those who worship idols and who forsake God’s mercy he then mentions what he would do in contrast to them. He would use his voice as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Wow – this seems like a real turnaround. The prophet who rebelled against going and speaking to the people of Nineveh has now determined that he would use his voice to do just that. Not only does he decide to do that, but also mentions the motivating factor behind it. In anticipation of receiving God’s mercy for his rebellion against God, he is also anticipating living a life of gratitude – hence the words, ‘voice of thanksgiving.’ This means that his decision to obey God and take the message to Nineveh is not the result of fear of God’s punishment anymore but rather as a result of a heart filled with thanksgiving for all God had done for him those three days.

This reminds of another passage in Romans 12:1, where the apostle Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Here too, Paul is asking the Roman believers (and us as well), to not forget how merciful God has been to them (as explained in the first 11 chapters) and to instead to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God and then he goes on to say that this is our reasonable service, meaning that a life of grateful service is the reasonable response to such mercy of God on our lives. We don’t need to live and serve God, out of fear of wrath, but rather out of a heart of gratitude for all He has done to save us from a lost eternity.

Jonah experienced the mercy of God by being 3 days and three nights in the belly of the fish and every one of us who has come to faith in Jesus have experienced God’s mercy by Jesus spending three days and three nights in the heart of the earth on our behalf. He took the punishment we should have taken so we could be set free to live a new life of love. Does this not deserve our whole-hearted gratitude?

I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”

Jonah goes on to say that he will pray what he had vowed. How often have we heard either ourselves or others say that if God delivered us out of a situation we would do something out of a heart of gratitude for his intervention? This seems to be the case with Jonah as well. Perhaps he had told the Lord that if he was delivered then he would go ahead with God’s call on his life to take the message to Nineveh.

 

He ends with the most powerful statement in that prayer – Salvation is of the Lord. Though Jonah was referring both himself being saved by God in that situation, he was also referring to the fact that if one is to be saved from sin and it’s penalty, which was death, no human, no animal, no idol, no philosophy or anything else could ever do that – only God’s own Son, our Lord Jesus could do that. Similar words are reflected in Acts 4:12 - Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Let’s never forget that and let’s make this truth known to the world around us, as that’s the purpose for our existence.

 

As The Church, let’s make a decision even during this global pandemic, even before we are delivered from it, that we will take God’s word to the world; that we will ‘make disciples of all nations,’ as the Lord asked us to do. And once we are delivered let’s do just that, because as Jonah rightly said, “Salvation is of the Lord.”

God bless you and have a great day or night.