“Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah 2:9
I’m sure we’ve all had those moments where we ignore that voice within us. We might attribute it to God’s Spirit, or to a gut feeling, but we know what it feels like to go against what we know to be right. Our friend, Jonah, from the Old Testament knew it too well. When God calls him to preach to his enemies in Ninevah, he fled. In the opposite direction.
I’m sure you know the story – he finds himself being thrown overboard and spending a few days in the belly of a fish (Jonah 1:17). What would have felt like the end for him, ends up being what God uses to save him. God re-routes him and reminds him who God is. In the midst of his fear, Jonah used the time wisely and cried out to God in ‘distress.’ He cried for help, knowing that God had hurled him into seas that He controls (2:3).
Jonah channelled his desperation into prayer, seeking God’s unfailing love. He humbled himself, knowing that it is God’s plans that will ultimately prevail.
Old Testament narratives, like Jonah, all show us how God is at work in and through Israel. With Jonah’s instructions to preach in Ninevah, it was a clear call that shows God’s redeeming mission is for all people. This is why it was so shocking to Jonah. He knows that God is ‘gracious and compassionate…slow to anger and abounding in love’ and he didn’t want to see his enemies redeemed. God chooses to use broken, sinful people to bring about his great redemptive plan for all of creation. What an incredibly loving God.
Jonah’s experience with this fish was a moment of both great distress and great deliverance (2:9).
Jonah shows us that sometimes rock-bottom can be where we see God the clearest. Zooming out, we see God’s hand through Jonah’s whole story, as He provides, not what Jonah wants, but what he needs (1:17, 4:6-8). Then, ultimately, we see God providing this defiant prophet with the humility needed to deliver only 8 words that end up saving a whole city (3:4, 9).
So, what were the 8 words? “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” And what happened? “The Ninevites believed God.” Instant faith because Jonah humbled himself before God and spoke boldly, even though he didn’t want to. God’s plan never fails, despite how far or fast we try to run in the other direction.
(Jonah’s full prayer can be found in Jonah 2:1-9).