Let’s see how Jonah’s education is going … (Part 4 can be found HERE.)
Chapter 2
Verse 1:
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish
From the school room of the fish’s stomach, Jonah finally
prays! Jonah was afraid, suffering and
afflicted … he had to get to this point before he could start on the path of
surrender that would lead to obedience to God.
Verse 2:
saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress and he answered
me; out of the belly of Shoel I cried and you heard my voice.
How tormented Jonah must have been, it was time to realize
that he could no longer run from God. Amidst
Jonah’s misery, physical sufferings, and afflictions, he called out to God and
God heard him.
Verse 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.
Jonah acknowledges God’s hand in the dreadful circumstances in
which he finds himself. He doesn’t blame
the sailors who threw him overboard, he acknowledges the sovereignty of God in
all that has happened to him.
Verse 4:
Then I said, “I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look
upon your ‘holy temple.’
Jonah recognizes that it was his rebellion that separated him
from God, and he reaches out in faith for God’s mercy.
Verse 5:
The waters closed in over me to take my life, the deep surrounded me:
weeds were wrapped about my head
Jonah is assessing his situation, water everywhere, weeds
wrapped around his head, it’s quite possible that when the fish swallowed
Jonah, he also consumed seaweed as well.
Jonah was floundering in the tangled mess.
Overwhelmed, claustrophobic, panicked, smothering and drowning
… thoughts of imminent death had to be
consuming his mind.
Until the next installment,
patsy @ From This Heart Of Mine
(c) 2022 by Patsy Norwood. All Rights Reserved.
Hard to even comprehend.
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