Jonah 2:1-10

Outside of God’s will for our life is a dangerous place to be. He will do whatever it takes to show us the stupidity of our choices and to bring us back to the center of the cross where God met man in Jesus Christ. I have been there and I am filled with gratitude that our Father is full of mercy and grace and never leaves nor forsakes those prodical children who place their trust in Him alone.

The phrase the Lord his God shows that Jonah, even though he was disobedient, was a true believer in God. Jonah was terrified. When the sailors threw Jonah into the sea, he seemed to be “as good as dead.” Thus for Jonah, the sea became like Sheol, the place of death. The man who had run from God’s presence was alone, yet he clung to the hope that God would not abandon him. Jonah reaffirms his faith in the Lord and renews his commitment to Him.

The focus in the story of Jonah is on the Lord’s sovereign control over creation to bring about His purpose.

Mercy (loyal love), the term that so often describes God’s faithfulness to His covenant and to His people is used as a name for the Lord. Jonah declares that he will keep his promise, a pledge both to sacrifice and to acknowledge God’s help. It is the Lord who delivers His people. God acts on behalf of His creation and the redeemed community to insure a relationship with them.

November 14th, 2011

Jonah 2:1-10

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, 

Into 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.” 

¹⁰ So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.