What Jonah Prayed Inside the Fish

Today as you read this passage, notice the verb tenses that Jonah uses. He is INSIDE the fish, and yet he’s praying about something that already happened - both a great hardship and a great deliverance.

Jonah is not praying about getting out of the fish. Jonah is reflecting on how terrifying it was to drown. And then, Jonah gives God great praise for salvation. You know what the salvation was? It was THE FISH!

So today, as you read through these verses, see if you can recall the last crisis when God came through… and then let that inform you in your current crisis. Sure, you may feel like you’re stuck in a giant fish… but your perspective might just change if you recall how that fish/situation might possibly be part of God’s deliverance.

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 deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
    and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
    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, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.

“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
    turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
    will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
    I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’” - Jonah 2:1-9