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This week, we are looking at famous prayers from the Bible. So far, we have looked at prayers that serve as great examples for us. Today I want to look at Jonah's prayer. In the book of Jonah, the entire second chapter is a prayer. To remind you of the story, Jonah has tried to flee the presence of the Lord while refusing to go to Nineveh as the Lord commanded him. He gets on a ship headed in the opposite direction of Nineveh, but God brings a great storm threatening the lives of those on board. The other mariners, upon Jonah's suggestion, hurl Jonah overboard to make the storm stop, since Jonah's disobedience is the cause for the tempest. Then Jonah is saved by God when He appoints a giant fish to swallow him up. Chapter 2 begins here, as Jonah prays while in the belly of the fish.
To be honest, I have always struggled with Jonah's prayer. If I read the prayer on its own, it seems like a genuine prayer of thanksgiving for deliverance. But the surrounding context of Jonah's prayer gives me pause to at least question how genuine his prayer really was. Of course, I do not know. However I think there are definitely some things we can learn about prayer from Jonah–some bad and some good.
Let's start with the good!
Jonah recalls Scripture as he prays.
If you were to read this chapter totally apart from its context, you might think that it comes from the Psalms. It certainly sounds like one, and that is because Jonah is quoting the Psalms all throughout the prayer. Even though Jonah proves in chapter 4 that his heart at this time was not aligned with God's heart whatsoever, we can at least see that Jonah knows the Scriptures. He has saturated himself with the word of God, reading it, learning it, studying it, memorizing it, reciting it for years and years. Now, in the belly of a fish, he can't pull out a scroll of the Psalms and read it for encouragement. But he recalls the Psalms and quotes many because he has stored God's word in His memory.
Jonah recognizes the sovereignty of God.
Jonah says that God cast him into the waters (verse 3), which is funny because it was Jonah's idea for the mariners to throw him overboard. At worst, Jonah is blaming God for his own problem, but at best, he is recognizing that all of this is actually God's plan in motion to bring Jonah to a place of desperation to cry out to God once again after trying to run from Him.
But Jonah's prayer is also an example of what not to do.
Jonah never actually repents.
After all that he has done to disobey and dishonor the Lord, Jonah comes back to pray to the Lord. He thanks him for his deliverance from the depths of the ocean. The only problem is, he never actually repents. He doesn't take responsibility for his actions or show any remorse. He's just happy to be alive.
Jonah goes on to prove that he still wasn't on board with God's plan.
As the book continues, Jonah does indeed go to Nineveh and warns them to repent, as God required. However, when they actually do, Jonah is extremely upset and wishes even to die. The Lord wants to show great mercy to Nineveh, and Jonah just wants them to get what he thinks they deserve. Jonah came to a crossroads in the belly of the fish. He cried out to God what sounds like a beautiful prayer filled with Scripture and thanksgiving, but his actions later on show that his heart was still far from God's. You can have all of the right words in your prayer, but the position of your heart is far more important than the expressions of your lips.
So, the true things Jonah says about God are still true, and we can learn from them, but when you pray, let your heart be honest and broken before the Lord. We can't impress God with fancy words. He is after our hearts.
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