¹⁷ Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. ² He said,

“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble,
    and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead,
    and Lord, you heard me!
³ You threw me into the ocean depths,
    and I sank down to the heart of the sea.
The mighty waters engulfed me;
    I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
⁴ Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence.
    Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’

⁵ “I sank beneath the waves,
    and the waters closed over me.
    Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
⁶ I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
    I was imprisoned in the earth,
    whose gates lock shut forever.
But you, O Lord my God,
    snatched me from the jaws of death!
⁷ As my life was slipping away,
    I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
    in your holy Temple.
⁸ Those who worship false gods
    turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
⁹ But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
    and I will fulfill all my vows.
    For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

Jonah 1:17-2:10

Dear God, let’s just jump right into this.

• “Now the Lord had arranged…” – We’ve closed the scene with the sailors and they’ll not be heard from again. But you already had this worked out for Jonah. The sailors thought he was dead. Jonah thought he was being thrown to his death, and he’d rather have had that death than go to the Assyrians in Nineveh. But you weren’t going to let him off that easily. To quote Washington in the musical Hamilton, “Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder.” But you had made this plan “Jonah-proof.” It is so comforting to know that your plans are “John-proof” too. Even in the midst of my sin and mistakes, you have already made arrangements for my foolishness.
• ⁷ “As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.” – It turns out that he did want to live. He wasn’t ready to repent. He just asked for mercy over his life. But did you answer his request for his sake or for yours? You had a plan and he was part of it whether he liked it or not. In that moment, he might have thought you were loving him and rescuing him–and maybe you were–but you also had something you needed him to do. I note, there’s no repentance in here. He doesn’t regret running from you. It’s more like Cain when you banish him after he killed Abel and he says, “My punishment is more than I can bear.” (Genesis 4:18)
• ⁹ “But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.” – He relents, but he doesn’t repent. There’s a fine line there, but it is definitely a line. He agrees to fulfill his vows to you because you are God and he is not, but he never repents. I would love to sit here and judge him 2,800 years later, but maybe I need to consider how I’m doing in this area. Are there place in my life where I relent to your will, but I do not repent or joyfully submit to you? If there are, please open my eyes to see them.
• ¹⁰ Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach. – I’ll confess that this is a weird story, but I have no reason to doubt it except for the fact that it’s unreasonable to believe it. But I believe all kinds of unreasonable things, but I wholly believe them. At the end of the day, I could argue with someone vehemently about this whole “big fish” aspect of this story and it wouldn’t take away from the lesson the story teaches.

Father, I guess I can think of one way I’m like Jonah. I can think of something in my life that I do grudgingly. I’m doing it, but I don’t want to do it. And here’s the thing. I have a feeling that the doing of it will not only bless others, but somehow you’re going to bless me in the process. I think we’ll see by the time we get to chapter 4, Jonah refuses to participate in the blessing you have for him in sending him to Nineveh. It wasn’t only for the Assyrians. It was for him too. But he missed it. Help me to not miss you and the growth into being Christlike you have for me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen