Prayer of Jonah

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.  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.  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.  I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’  The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.  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.  “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.  “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.  But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed I will make good.  Salvation comes from the Lord.”  And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

– Jonah 2:1-10

Do you feel like Jonah today?  Can you relate to his prayer to God??  You have come to the end of your rope and don’t know how to get out of the pit that you’re in.  You have fallen into many pits in your life, but this one is HUGE -just like the belly of a whale- and you have absolutely no idea how you are going to make it out!  Like Jonah, you’ve been hurled into the very deep, into the heart of the seas, with all the swirling currents around you and all the waves and breakers crashing on top of you!  With seaweed wrapped around your head in complete darkness, you feel like you have been banished from the Lord’s sight for all eternity!  You are a sinking ship, sinking fast!  In all your distress you cry out in utter desperation to the Lord!  You wonder if the Lord will even hear you because you have been running away from his calling on your life and you doubt that he will answer your plea for mercy!  But as Jonah’s life was ebbing away, he remembered the Lord God and his prayer rose to him – to his holy temple…  Your prayer, like Jonah’s prayer, will rise to God!  Even though it seems like you are the farthest away from him, the Lord your God will hear you, and will bring your life up from the pit!!  Like Jonah, you will acknowledge God’s grace for you compared to all the worthless idols in the world and you will exclaim with all your heart, “Salvation comes from the Lord!”  The Lord will hear you and spit you up out of the pit onto dry land.