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Jonah

Jonah

Jonah 2: The Regretful Prophet

Jonah 1:17-2:10

Pastor James Harleman 48mn:53sec Viewed 7,208 times in almost 4 years

In part two of our series we examine the prophet’s response to God’s discipline. God doesn’t just give Jonah a bellyful, he turns him into one. Pastor James Harleman examines the contents of a fish’s stomach, as Jonah learns what happens when you give your Creator and Lord the finger.

Drowned, disoriented, and desperate, he gurgles for God’s grace and finds himself swallowed by something fishy. Filled with terror and remorse, he amalgamates fifteen psalms into a personal prayer of thanksgiving to God. The prayer and God’s aquatic albeit unglamorous rescue of Jonah gives us some thoughts to consider. Apart from God, we are like Jonah – terrified, bound, imprisoned and destined for the grave – and God is the one who hears us, answers us, and brings life to pit-bound sinners who deserve Hell.

Jonah 1:17-2:10

17  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.

2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 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.
3 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.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6 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.
7 When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotation information.

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