Say what? Christians can learn about prayer from Jonah? Jonah!? The guy who ran away from God? Yeah, that Jonah. The Old Testament guy. And yes, even we Christians here in the 21st century can/should learn something from him.
What Christians need to learn about prayer from Jonah is article #2 in the series: Jonah and Christian love.Click button to view titles for the entire series
We already learned about God’s love from Jonah, in Part 1 of this series: What Christians need to learn about love from Jonah.
Also from Part 1, we learned there’s a reason why the book of Jonah is in the Bible. So it seems only reasonable that we should try to learn whatever we can from it.
There are so many times in our lives that, as Christians, we don’t really want to do what God wants us to do. You’ve probably done that. I know I have. And I’m pretty sure I will again. And, of course, it’s possible that I’m even doing it right now!
Jonah really is a book for every single one of us who wants to truly follow Jesus. No, we aren’t in Old Testament times anymore. This is the New Covenant period now. But honestly, we’ve been running away from and/or trying to hide from God ever since Adam and Eve.
What Christians need to learn about prayer from Jonah
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at Chapter 2 of Jonah. Remember, Jonah just got dumped overboard by the sailors on the ship that was headed for disaster because Jonah was trying to use it to run away from God. Then the big fish swallowed Jonah.
What’s he going to do? What would we do? We’re trying to run away from God, as if that was even possible. But we still try. And we have to realize, if our promise to follow Jesus really was true and came from the heart, God will come after us.
We made a promise to Him when we were baptized. Since He knows what’s in our hearts, He will try to bring us back via the urging Holy Spirit. Whether or not we go back? That’s completely up to us. God will not force us.
And that’s why we should really look at Jonah. See what he did. That’s what he did right, and what he did that wasn’t so right. And then look in the mirror, to see how we’re doing.
Jonah’s prayer to God from inside the fish
Jonah’s Prayer
Jnh 2:1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.
Whew! Heavy sigh of relief here! If Jonah didn’t pray to God, well, this would be an exercise in futility, wouldn’t it? But even that would’ve been a learning experience. After all, how many times do we do exactly that? Get in trouble, God tries to get our attention, and we try even harder to get away. That would be learning what not to do.
But Jonah did pray. To God. Right where he was, inside the fish. At least that’s what the image above portrays. And yet, is the image really correct? Do we care if it’s correct?
Jonah didn’t try to fix things on his own. He didn’t wait until things got better. Nor did he wait until he got back in God’s good graces. And He didn’t wait for God to make the first move. All bad stuff. And he didn’t wait for any of it.
Jonah just started praying. As should we.
Prayer at a time of distress
2 He said:
“In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
In my distress I called to the LORD. Let’s look at the earlier question about the validity of the image at the top. Was this prayer from inside the fish? That’s probably what we think. I guess because that’s what we probably “learned” somewhere when we were kids. But let’s take a look.
Being inside a fish is certainly distressing. But maybe being dumped into the ocean in the middle of a strong storm is even more distressing? Even the best swimmer won’t survive that unless the boat’s relatively close to shore. And given chapter one, it’s pretty clear that the sailors thought they were sending Jonah to his death.
As I said, that’s distressing. In comparison, being stuck inside a giant fish, having air to breathe – no matter how disgusting it smells – at least didn’t mean a torturous death by drowning. Not right away at least.
“The grave” (2:2). The Heb. says “sheol,” a poetic name for death or the grave often found in Heb. poetry. The next verses graphically portray the prophet’s experience as ocean currents tumble him over and over and tendrils of swaying seaweed wrap themselves around his shoulders. Jonah’s experience reminds us that even when humanly speaking it is too late, God can and does answer our cries for help. 1Richards, L. O. (1991). The Bible reader’s companion (electronic ed., p. 548). Victor Books.
I wonder. If we were drowning in a storm like that, would we be praying like this? Or would we be screaming and thinking, “I’m gonna die!”?
Listening and answering
Jonah’s prayer included him calling out to God, God listening, and God answering his call for help. If we believe, as I do, that this prayer was given while Jonah was in the ocean, we might conclude something about that process. Call out – know God hears – and believe God will give us what we asked for. Am I actually saying that’s true? As in always true, so all our prayers will always be answered? No!
First off, God’s not like a genie in a bottle. Yes, God always hears us. But no, God doesn’t always grant our wishes. God doesn’t even always answer right away. Sometimes, He never answers. Although, the lack of an answer does mean either not yet, or maybe no.
There’s one other thing about what Jonah prayed for that’s relevant to this “call out to God and get an answer” question. But we haven’t read it yet. So we’ll look into that when we get there.
God getting our attention
Jnh 2:3 You hurled me into the deep,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
Talk about getting our attention! It seems a bit over the top, doesn’t it? But some of us really are that stubborn. Like me. There was one time when I was very sure God told me not to fight Him on something that was happening. I didn’t. At least not too much, I guess. And here I am, eight years later, writing this as a result of that event.
But here’s the thing. Jonah was a prophet of God. But, in this case, he didn’t want to do this thing. He didn’t want to play any part in possibly saving people he hated. And doesn’t that sound like us? But when we commit to following God, and then we try not to, doesn’t God have the right to hold us to our promise?
I think so. And honestly, I’d rather have God to that than to just let us run away and forget about me. And then, in the end, say He never knew me.
Jnh 2:4 I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’
Banished … and yet …
That sounds like forgiveness. And the knowledge that God will forgive. Even when we really mess up. And even when it’s intentional.
Of course, we don’t want to do that all the time, or even most of the time. And yet, we should be grateful that God will forgive us. Something we really ought to remember. Especially when we’re dumped into the middle of the ocean in a storm. Or when our car breaks down in the rain, while we’re trying to drive away from God. Or whatever mode of transportation/ignoring God we’re using at the time.
Jnh 2:5 The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
I can’t swim, so it doesn’t take much water to threaten me. But “the deep“. That’s the real issue in this verse. It can be another reference to the ocean. But given the context of the verse, the fact that the ocean was already mentioned, the other meaning of the Hebrew word seems more likely. And what is that other meaning? Sheol. Again. As in this ocean was about to become Jonah’s grave. For sure, God’s got Jonah’s attention.
Jnh 2:6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit,
O LORD my God.
Jonah, at the bottom of the ocean. And Sheol, yet again.
Jonah felt himself sinking into the watery grave. The water encompassed him “to the point of death.” Seaweed wrapped about his head. He descended “to the bottoms of the mountains.” This was the point of no return. “The earth with its bars” was around me forever, i.e., he was as good as buried in the earth, imprisoned by the bars of death. There was no hope of return apart from divine intervention. By means of the great fish, however, God had brought up his life from “the pit,” i.e., from Sheol as in v. 2 (2:5–6). 2Smith, J. E. (1994). The Minor Prophets (p. 110). College Press.
What Christians need to learn about prayer from Jonah – And then Jonah “remembered” God.
Jnh 2:7 “When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
Of course, there’s so much for us Christians to learn about prayer from Jonah. But this part says a lot about us. And about God.
Jonah’s just about dead before He “remembered” God. I put that in quotes, because it meant a whole lot more when Jonah said it than we realize today. In so many ways, we treat remember the same way we treat believe. Both are considered to be thoughts in our brains. And that’s pretty much it.
But there’s so much more. As I often write, believe, when Jesus and others in the New Testament use the word, means that we believe something so strongly that we act on it. Our belief in Jesus should be the source of everything we do. It’s not like we “believe” and then live like we always did before we “believed”. No. Our belief is the beginning of our Christian transformation.
As we read below, the Hebrew word in Jonah for “remember” is very much like that.
“I remembered You” (2:7). In the O.T. to “remember” typically means to act on a thing remembered rather than simply call it to mind. In jeopardy Jonah recalled who God is and cried out in prayer. We too can recall God’s grace and act on knowledge of His character by praying to Him. 3Richards, L. O. (1991). The Bible reader’s companion (electronic ed., p. 548). Victor Books.
Now, here’s what this verse tells us about ourselves and about God.
Unfortunately, we often have to get to the point where we’re totally stressed out, reaching the end of our rope, our life, before we “remember” God. But with us, unlike what seems to happen with Jonah (coming shortly), we can make some pretty empty promises to God if He’ll only save us. Like I’ll go to church every Sunday if you get me out of this mess. But that’s not at all what’s happening with Jonah.
As for God, this shows His faithfulness. Even to the end, if necessary. It took Jonah what must have seemed like a lifetime to remember God. But did God forget Jonah? No, God was right there with him. And when the time came, so was the giant fish God had to rescue Jonah.
Waiting too long?
Jnh 2:8 “Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
This is what happens when we forget God. Or don’t believe in God. And if we fail to remember God, it’s likely because some worthless idol is more important to us than God is.
What Christians need to learn about prayer from Jonah – part of remembering God
Jnh 2:9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the LORD.”
Future tense. A time transition appears to happen here. When exactly does this happen? Hang on. One more verse.
There are key things in each line of this verse. Things every Christian should know. Believe. And act on as we live our lives.
- with a song of thanksgiving
- It’s hard sometimes, but we should always live with a song of thanksgiving for God. Of course, it’s easy when things are good.
- But even when things aren’t so good, God’s still with us.
- And we may not realize it, but even when things are really bad, God’s with us. In fact, those are the times when we can truly feel His peace.
- No matter what our current circumstances, when we honestly try to follow Jesus, then we can always be thankful for His death on the cross, when He paid the price for our salvation.
- It’s hard sometimes, but we should always live with a song of thanksgiving for God. Of course, it’s easy when things are good.
- a sacrifice
- We don’t offer sacrifices today, like they did under the Old Covenant. And yet, we also should remember what the author of Hebrews wrote about sacrifices of a different kind. It’s part of a section the NIV titled Concluding Exhortations.
- Heb 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
- We don’t offer sacrifices today, like they did under the Old Covenant. And yet, we also should remember what the author of Hebrews wrote about sacrifices of a different kind. It’s part of a section the NIV titled Concluding Exhortations.
- make good our vow to God
- A baptismal vow is a Promise made at baptism by the candidate, if an adult, or by the sponsors or parents, if a child, usually swearing allegiance to Christ and renouncing the devil. 4Kurian, G. T. (2001). In Nelson’s new Christian dictionary: the authoritative resource on the Christian world. Thomas Nelson Publishers..
- One of those vows has to do with belief in Jesus. As we already saw, that belief includes living out our lives based on what Jesus taught and commanded. We’re not all prophets like Jonah was, but based on our belief/commitment to God, there are things we agreed to do. We should follow through on them.
- salvation from God.
- As I said, our salvation from God is something we should always remember. And keep in mind, remember means more than just keep it in mind. For Christians, there are actions attached to remembering.
When did this prayer happen?
Jnh 2:10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Based on this verse, we could conclude the prayer occurred while Jonah was in the belly of the fish. However, as we saw, there are also indications that it appeared while Jonah was in the ocean, before the fish rescued him.
What Christians need to learn about prayer from Jonah
But then, as I asked earlier, does it really matter when Jonah uttered or thought the words of this prayer? Isn’t the reality that it happened more important. And aren’t the words, the thoughts, the praise for God, the concepts of our relationship with God – aren’t they the things of utmost importance?
Yes, we can argue till we’re blue in the face about when it happened. But to what end? Is this what God wants from us? Or does God want us to “remember Him? To “remember” our promise to Him? And maybe above all, to “remember” His love for and His faithfulness towards us?
I believe those are the things we Christians need to learn about prayer from Jonah.
Part 3 is now available at What Christians need to learn about God from Jonah.
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Footnotes
- 1Richards, L. O. (1991). The Bible reader’s companion (electronic ed., p. 548). Victor Books.
- 2Smith, J. E. (1994). The Minor Prophets (p. 110). College Press.
- 3Richards, L. O. (1991). The Bible reader’s companion (electronic ed., p. 548). Victor Books.
- 4Kurian, G. T. (2001). In Nelson’s new Christian dictionary: the authoritative resource on the Christian world. Thomas Nelson Publishers.