Who Are You When You Pray?: 11. Jonah

Jonah 2: 1-9

Jonah prayed from probably the most unusual place we will ever come across – inside a whale’s belly. Not the most conventional prayer meeting you’ve got to admit, but no matter where we are, God hears our prayer when we are serious, and He will answer us as we pray in accordance with His will.

Jonah ended up in the belly of a whale because of fear of man. In other words he was afraid of other people and allowed his actions to be dictated to by what they thought of him. Jonah ended up in a whales belly so God could teach him that there was nothing to fear from people, but that as it says in Hebrews 10:31 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God'. Jonah learnt this lesson and went on to be a great evangelist, converting a whole city of Gentiles. This is not to say that we should be afraid of God when we pray but that we should respect His power. Just as we respect fire but use and enjoy it so God is to be feared in this healthy way.

Jonah when he prayed, prayed from a place of submission where God was given complete authority over his life. Jonah saw that without God he was nothing and far worse off than if he found himself in the worst place in the world that God may ask him to go.

Maybe when you pray you are like Jonah, struggling to submit and fall into God’s authority over your life. But remember God loves you too much to leave you the way you are and He’ll keep knocking at your door until you finally submit. So if you feel like you’re in your whale today ask God to forgive your lack of submission and surrender your life to Him again.

Sara Hesbrook

2003-07-07