Jonah 2:1-10: a reflection

1Then Jonah prayed to the LORD, his God, out of the fish’s belly. 2He said, “I called because of my affliction to the LORD. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice. 3For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. 4I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head. 6I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever; yet you have brought my life up from the pit, LORD my God. 7“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple. 8Those who regard vain idols forsake their own mercy. 9But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the LORD.” 10Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.

From inside the great fish, in the very depths of the sea and of his own distress, Jonah prays. And his prayer is remarkable for where it is offered: out of the belly of Sheol, from the place of death itself, he cries out, and God hears him. I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, he says, and he answered me. Even there, at the lowest point imaginable, cast into the deep, seaweed wrapped around his head, Jonah's prayer reached God, and God brought his life up from the pit.

Notice from where Jonah prays, and that God hears him there. He is at the very bottom, in the depths, in the belly of the fish, as good as dead; and it is from there, from the lowest place, that he cries to God, and God hears. No depth was too deep for his prayer to rise from, or for God's answer to reach. And Jonah's conclusion is the heart of it: salvation belongs to the LORD. His rescue was God's doing, from the depths where he could not save himself.

That is a comfort for the lowest places we may find ourselves in. We can feel that we are too far down for prayer to matter, sunk too deep in distress or in our own failure for God to hear or help. But Jonah prayed from the belly of Sheol, and God heard him; no depth is beyond the reach of prayer, or of God's rescue. When you are at your lowest, sunk in distress or in the consequences of your own running from God, do not think yourself too far down to pray. Cry to God from the depths, as Jonah did; no depth is beyond his hearing, and salvation belongs to him. He brought Jonah's life up from the pit, and he can reach you in the lowest place; call to him from there, and trust the God to whom salvation belongs to hear and raise you up.

Lord, from inside the great fish, in the belly of Sheol, at the lowest point imaginable, Jonah cried out to you, and you heard him and brought his life up from the pit; and he confessed, salvation belongs to the LORD. Comfort me with that for the lowest places I may find myself in. I can feel that I am too far down for prayer to matter, sunk too deep in distress or in my own failure for you to hear or help. But Jonah prayed from the belly of Sheol, and you heard him; no depth is beyond the reach of prayer, or of your rescue. When I am at my lowest, sunk in distress or in the consequences of my own running from you, keep me from thinking myself too far down to pray. Help me cry to you from the depths, as Jonah did; no depth is beyond your hearing, and salvation belongs to you. You brought Jonah's life up from the pit, and you can reach me in the lowest place; help me call to you from there, and trust you, to whom salvation belongs, to hear and raise me up. Hear me from the depths, Lord.