Praise In The Belly of the Whale

I love the story of Jonah, it's a tiny book located just before the New Testament.  I think Jonah was one of the first bloggers. Most of us remember this book as a kids' story about disobedience. (I automatically hear the Veggie Tales theme song in my head).

I find this story to be really encouraging.  Jonah was a prophet, a proud and stubborn prophet, a man who heard from God and then disobeyed.  God told him to go to Nineveh and preach to them to turn from sin, but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed in the opposite direction.  

How many of us have done this very thing? I know I have! When I would hear God say "forgive," I would go in the opposite direction. I would dig my heels into a justified emotion of "I will forgive when (you) deserve it!”

 You may find yourself feeling a gentle nudge of "I can have faith in God," but then suddenly we go in the opposite direction to doubt and fear because we are looking at our real circumstances.. God may say to us, “there is no condemnation to them that love the Lord.”  

I love the Lord, but I can go in the opposite direction and focus on my past, my weaknesses, my inabilities to recognize God's mercy and grace.

Jonah boarded a ship in the opposite direction.  He bought a ticket to run from God! We do this too. We can buy a ticket, file for divorce, or get on the ship of selfishness. When that ship sails in the wake of pride, we will not turn and humble ourselves.  Sometimes, when we have bought a ticket to run from the voice of God, we validated that decision with our own emotions and our flesh. The scriptures say that Jonah went below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.  I wonder if Jonah was depressed and wanted to escape his decision by an overwhelming urge to sleep.

Then the storms came. The winds created a violent storm and was destroying the ship.  The crew was throwing supplies overboard trying to lighten the load and they realized it was Jonah's fault for the storm. (Our decisions always affect others). They asked him, “what have you done?” They already knew that Jonah was running from God because he had already told them. Jonah had a solution and said, "throw me overboard and the sea will become calm,” so that is exactly what they did. They threw him overboard, and at that very moment, God brought a large fish to swallow Jonah.  Jonah in the belly of this fish for three days and three nights.

I love this example of when we go in the opposite direction, God will make a way for us; it's maybe in the belly of a whale, but we are not drowning!

Read chapter 2. This is Jonah's prayer while he is in the belly of the whale.  The very first thing he says is, "In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me."  I know that so many times we can run from the Lord and run from calling out to the Lord, we want to call out to our own reasoning; we call out to our education, our material objects, or even our religious rituals.  Jonah says, “the engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head”. I know this feeling--when we get so deep into our own mistakes and decisions that we feel like we are in so deep there is no way out.

“Seaweed wrapped around my head” is a great visual of how we can experience our own thoughts; they can wrap around us and overtake us.

Jonah expresses how he sank to the roots of the mountains. I have felt that...where I feel like I am at the lowest, where there is no way up and out of this emotion and out of this circumstance.

The story of Jonah, the proud and stubborn prophet found himself in the belly of the whale and this is the part I love the most. In Jonah 2:7-10 (NLT), it says, “As my life was slipping  away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple. Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies. But I will offer a SACRIFICES to you with songs of PRAISE, and I will fulfill all my vows.  For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.” Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

Jonah turned to the Lord. He could have just given up and said, "well this is what I deserve; I will die in the belly of the whale,"

but he praised the Lord.

He cried out to God for God's mercies.  Jonah knew that it wasn't too late to praise God and to express the power of God's mercy. So if you have gone in the opposite direction, it's not too late and you don't have to stay in the belly of our circumstances.  You don't have to stay in the depths of your despair and depression. Your past decisions; pride, addictions, unforgiveness. Whatever has placed you in the belly of the whale, God is the only one that can spit you out onto dry land.  

Giving God praise is the

way out of the belly of the whale.

Jonah said, “I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise.” How did Jonah get out of his circumstances?? Through a SACRIFICE of PRAISE.

My prayer for each of us today is that we give a sacrifice of praise in the midst of our circumstances, in the wake of our decisions, in the wreckage of our broken lives.  God's mercy will be powerful in each of our lives, as He gives us life and second and third, and hundreds of chances to hear His voice and go in the right direction.  He is calling all of us to Himself, He directs us to a loving relationship with Him.