Daily Thoughts from Jonah: Make Me (Jonah 1:17-2:10)

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.  Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying,

“I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; 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 flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.  Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’  The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.  I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.  When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.  Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.  But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.  Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.  (Jonah 1:17-2:10 ESV)

What is recorded here is typical and artistic Hebrew poetry.  It is a psalm of deliverance that itself becomes part of the fulfillment of Jonah’s vow to make a thanksgiving sacrifice where he gives testimony to God’s rescue.  We are not supposed to believe that he uttered these exact words in the belly of the fish but that they represent accurately his prayer.  His prayer became an instruction for others.

The focus of this psalm is that for those who worship the true God and reject idols there is always the hope of God’s steadfast love exercised powerfully to save a believer’s life.  Jonah’s testimony is that when he was near death in the fish and in the depths of the ocean, God delivered him.  God heard him and answered his prayer.

Jonah had repented of his disobedience and fleeing from the Lord.  After this Yahweh has the fish vomit Jonah out on dry land and he goes to Nineveh.  True repentance results in a renewed attempt to obey the Lord.  We will see, however, that his repentance is not complete.  He is obeying but he does not have Yahweh’s heart in this matter.

God often shows mercy to us in our incomplete repentances.  Jonah knows he did wrong by running from obedience and he acknowledges this to God, but in his heart, the reason for his disobedience has still not been resolved.  Yet God gives him another chance.  God in His mercy is not done teaching Jonah, and He is not done teaching us.  A benevolent Parent, He works with us to shape us into His own image.  He would not bother if He did not love us.

The renowned past head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Tom Landry, once explained his job.  He said, “The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do, in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.”  We don’t want to do the hard things it takes to be like Jesus, but we want to be like Jesus.  God is willing to make us do the things we don’t want to do so we can become the persons we want to become.