“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 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.’” Jonah 2:1-2.

Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish. This is just about as low as he could get and still be alive. There is no, we shall row harder, I shall flee to Tarshish, or I refuse to help these people, just helplessness.

Christians make the mistake of thinking; if only he would have obeyed he would not be in this mess. But the truth is most of us are or have been in such a mess.

And very likely many of us are beginning to feel the cold chill of the water filling our mouths and ears even now as we thrash about. Some will say I have done nothing wrong, others will know their guilt, still others will cry out, ‘Why does God hate me!”

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [payment] for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:9-11.

It is the purpose of God that brings these things into our lives, to change us, and to change those around us.

When the children of Israel were still being held as slaves in Egypt God raised up a particularly obstinate Pharaoh to demonstrate His power; God’s power was remembered for over forty years afterward by the nations around Egypt.

“[Moses quoting God to Pharaoh] Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Exodus 9:15-16.

God does not hate anyone, He hates the sin that they cling to, and it is this that He is trying to break off from all of us.

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities [perversity, depravity] have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2.

“[Israelites] They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’ Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.” Jeremiah 5:24-25.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9.

These trials come for a variety of reasons. They came to Jonah because of his rebellion against God’s clear directions. They came to Job for the opposite reason, his righteousness before God made him self-righteous. Job began to think that his righteousness commended him before an infinitely righteous God.

“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.” Titus 3:3-8.

Yes and often righteous folks come into some fiery trials, even the sinless Son of God.

“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” John 12:27.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.

“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12-13.

Jonah’s feelings as he lay in what was to him the very belly of hell are revealed to us allowing us to see that we are not alone in our miseries on earth, but we have a common bond, both we and others who have gone before us.

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly…’Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.’” Jonah 2:1, 2b.

Some say that Jonah actually died and was in Sheol but even when Jesus speaks of Jonah He only refers to him as being in the belly of the fish.

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40.

Jesus was crucified, died, and was in the heart of the earth three days and rose again. None of this was mentioned to make us think that Jonah actually died, even though he is still a type of Christ.

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

Out of this hellish place Jonah cries out to the Lord, and He hears him. You cannot find yourself so far away from God that you cannot call out to Him in anguish and true repentance that He will not hear you.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. 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. Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight…’” Jonah 2:2b-4a.

This is but a small picture of the wrath of God which sinners will fall under on Judgment Day. Having felt some of this, Jonah must certainly have understood the plight of those in Nineveh if they did not repent and turn to God. Yet his heart was still hard against them.

“O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You. Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave. I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength, adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and who are cut off from Your hand. You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah” Psalm 88:1-7.

In despair Jonah cries out, “I have been cast out of Your sight.” But there is nothing out of the reach or out of the sight of the Lord.

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.” Psalm 139:7-12.

Then we see the hope which lies in Jonah’s heart even at the lowest point of despair.

“Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’” Jonah 2:4.

This shows plainly that there is eternal security when we accept Christ as our savior. Though Jesus had not yet died for the sin of mankind and provided a way into God’s presence in heaven, God still honored the future sacrifice of Christ as though it had already been accomplished.

Jonah had believed in God, and His promise of salvation from sin, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Fleshly logic tells us that though Jonah was a prophet of God he should have been cast into hell for eternity for his sin of rebellion against God.

But that is not God’s logic; He counted the then future shed blood of Jesus Christ as sufficient to put away even Jonah’s sin against Him.

However, even as we read of Jonah’s ordeal in the belly of the great fish it is obvious that he is paying dearly for his sin of rebellion against God. Christians have got to realize that even though they cannot go to hell, they will most assuredly pay for any evil they commit while on this earth, and they will lose rewards in heaven.

“The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head. 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 2:5-6.

Human emotions go from despair to elation when we remember the hope we have in Jesus, “…yet I will look again toward Your holy temple”, then the horror of where we are takes hold again, “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down…”

We struggle still further and then we remember, “You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.” You have brought up the life of those who have trusted in Jesus from the pit of hell! And there can be rejoicing in the midst of the deepest despair.

Never give up, never give up, never give in to the baiting of the devil, and never stop praying for relief. God is faithful He will deliver you, but it will be in His timing not ours.

“For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne chastening; I will offend no more; teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more’? Should He repay it according to your terms, just because you disavow it? You must choose, and not I; therefore speak what you know.” Job 34:31-33.

Never give up, never give up, never give in to the baiting of the devil, and never stop praying for relief.

“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple.” Jonah 2:7.

And then at his lowest ebb Jonah calls upon the Lord, as King David did many years earlier. And Jonah’s prayer ascends into the holy temple, not in Jerusalem, but the temple in heaven, into the very presence of God.

“Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I cry to You all day long. Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, for You will answer me. Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; nor are there any works like Your works. All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name. For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.” Psalm 86:3-10.

Jonah seems to feel that the end of his ordeal is near and he reaffirms his devotion to the Lord and gives Him the glory.

“Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” Jonah 2:8-9.

The entire world follows another god, whether it is a witch doctor, an idol, false religion such as Buddhism, Mormonism, Islam, or humanism (the worship of man), they do so to their own hurt, because all are energized by demons, and demons drag people to hell.

This will not improve until folks come to the end of themselves and accept Jesus Christ as their only hope and savior. As for the Christian:

“So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Jonah 2:10.

Our trials may not end the way we would like them to, but they will end to our relief and the glory of God. Never forget to thank Him when it is over, He never forgot you while you were in it.

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” Psalm 33:18-19.

Jonah 2:1-10 taken from godisrevealed.com

Scripture taken from the New King James version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.