Prayer, an important Christian discipline, is oft spoken of but less practised. Joseph Scriven, in the hymn What A Friend We Have In Jesus expressed this sentiment well:
Oh what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer
In a previous article, the prayers of Paul, we pointed to a collection of the apostle Paul’s prayers as it is recorded in the New Testament. This article follows on from that and will examine some prayers of biblical characters. Being the first in the series, we will examine a prayer from the belly of a fish (Jonah 2:1). Does this sound familiar? It is the story of Jonah—called and sent by God, but he fled (Jonah 1:1-3). He didn’t get far before God intervened and stopped him in his tracks:
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 (1:17).
What did he do in there? He prayed. “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish (Jonah 2:1). Jesus, in Luke 18:1 told a parable to point to the necessity of prayer.“…[we] ought always to pray and not faint.” Job certainly exemplifies this.
What Does Jonah’s Prayer Teach Us?
Prayer is offered to God
Jonah, alone in the belly of the fish prayed: “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish” (Jonah 2:1). What we observe in these words is that the object of the Christian’s prayer is God. When in trouble, it is God we pray to. We don’t pray to dead relatives, dead saints, Mary or our ancestors. We pray to God—the Creator of the heavens and earth. Take note of the spelling of LORD in the text. The all capital spelling is the translators way of pointing to God’s proper name in Hebrew: Yaweh, meaning the “self-existent one” (Jonah 1:9). We pray to only God. He is the object of our prayer. The Westminster Shorter Catechism captures this aptly:
Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q98)
Prayer Is Personal
Jonah’s prayer teaches us that we can talk to God personally. He is a God we can relate with on a personal level. Jonah’s prayer is instructive. He prayed to “The LORD his God”. He prayed to God because he had a relationship with God. He was a covenant child of Israel. The only grounds by which we can approach God in prayer is covenant a relationship with him. And Jonah had that personal relationship. And for us as Christians, on the grounds of our relationship with Jesus, we can pray to God because he is our Father (Matthew 6:9).
Prayer Is Not Limited By Geography
Before we proceed, let’s remind ourselves where Jonah is praying from: the belly of the fish: “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish. What an unusual place for prayer! This reinforces the omnipresence of God and because of this, our prayer is not limited by location or geography. All of Jonah’s prayer were offered from the belly of the big fish. There is no limitation to where prayer can be offered. Whereever we find ourselves, we can offer up prayer – and that should encourage us to pray.
Prayer is A Plea
If you have paid attention to many of the prayers been offered these days, you will hear much about commanding, decreeing, declaring, positive confessions and much more. Perhaps, dear reader, you may be guilty as charged. But these kind of prayer are wrong and unbiblical. Prayer is a plea! We call out to God to help. We bring our petitions before him, and that is no passive thing.
Imagine Jonah in the belly of the fish – suffocating, struggling to catch his breath, drowning in the midst of water, acid and everything else there is in the belly of a great fish. He is in distress: “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress… out of the belly of Sheol I cried…” Jonah is in a real, face to face encounter with death (vv 5;6;7). You don’t command and declare your way out of a situation like what Jonah found himself in. You cry out. You call out to God. You plead—God please save me! And we see it in the very next line “out of the belly of Sheol I cried”.
Sheol is depicted as hell or the grave. It brings clearly into view the picture of what Jonah was experiencing. To be people of prayer, we must plead our cause to God and turn away from the unbiblical prayers that have become so rampant among believers. Plead with God. Don’t decree and declare.
Prayer Must Be According To God’s Will
Prayer is no mere collection of wishes and desires—it must be according to God’s will. And where do we find God’s will? In the Scriptures. If you consider Jonah’s prayer carefully, you will notice that it is saturated with the word of God. Jonah prays the Psalms. He prayed the word of God (Ps 18:4-6;42:7;130:1;31:22). Donald S. Whitney, in his book Praying the Bible, offers a compelling reason why we must pray the words of Scripture—especially the Psalms:
To pray the Bible, you simply go through the passage line by line, talking to God about whatever comes to mind as you read the text…If you don’t understand the meaning of a verse, go on to the next verse. Just speak to the Lord about everything that occurs to you as you slowly read his word
On some occasions, while leading a pastoral prayer in the church I pastor, I have prayed from a Psalm – and it has been deeply encouraging. It improves your prayer life and keeps you from being repetitive, from saying the same things every time you pray. Jonah prayed the Psalms.
Prayer Must Be Offered In Faith
From vv.2-3, Jonah expresses his distress. He feels driven away from the presence of God. But in the midst of it, he still had faith:
Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head. To 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. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple (Jonah 2:4-7)
Jonah feels a sense of separation from God, but two words points us to his faith: “yet I shall again look upon your holy temple” (v.4a). Despite his overwhelming experience—the feeling of complete separation from God—he still garned the faith to look towards him. Verse 7 equally paints a picture of faith: “when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord…”
Have you ever experienced a sense of separation from God? It’s just a feeling. Don’t live by your feelings—cry out to God in faith. Jonah in the belly of the fish is grappling with this illusion that God has drawn away or cast him aside. Yet he cried out to God. Regardsless of our feelings, we must always turn to God in prayer, in faith.
Prayer Must Be Offered With Thanksgiving
In Luke’s gospel, the story is told of Jesus healing ten lepers, and only one returned to thank him. Jesus’ response tells something about thanksgiving: “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17). This speaks volumes aboutthe place of gratitude in our faith walk. In the midst of all his petitions, Johan paused to thank God. In prayer, we don’t only bring our petitions, we bring our thanksgiving as well: “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you;what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”(v.9).
We must be a grateful people for what God has done for us.
God Answers Prayer
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 (v.2)
To 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 (v.6)
And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land (v.10)
The greatest motivation for which we must pray is that God hears us, and he answers prayer. We see this powerfully in Jonah’s prayer and in his being cast out upon dry land. Do you need any further motivation to pray?
God answers prayers. So pray.
