Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly. (Jonah 2:1)

If there is one thing we may observe here, is that God knows how to get your attention. God has loved us with an everlasting love, so much so that He will not leave you to yourself, in yourself, to destroy yourself. Jonah has been swallowed by a great fish. And here’s what must not escape us, it was not any great fish, the last verse of chapter 1 tells us it was a prepared fish. This was not an aimless incident, or co-incident. But God’s help for Jonah was a fish. God’s path for Jonah was through a fish. God’s repentance for Jonah was in a fish. God’s love came in the form of a fish.

At first, we look from a distance and think, "Jonah is having a unique experience." Yet on closer examination, we can observe that Jonah’s experience is not unique at all. For it is not about Jonah and a fish, but Jonah and the LORD. It is indeed, the spiritual place where all of our fleeing from the LORD takes us. Strangely enough, running from God, for the child of God, is always running to God. He’s so high that you can’t get over Him. He’s so low that you can’t get under Him. He’s so wide that you can’t get around Him. David said, “Where can I flee from your presence? If I take the wings of the morning and fly to yonder’s mountain, you are there. If I make my bed in “Sheol” (the grave,) you are there.” Even in death, I can’t escape God. 

In chapter 1, Jonah is the problem. Now in chapter 2, Jonah has a problem. Jonah wanted to die. Remember his instructions to the pagan’s on the ship, “throw me overboard.” Jonah would rather physically die trying to escape God, than spiritually die and serve God.

Here, Jonah moves from the SEVERITY of a storm, to now being SWALLOWED by a fish. He moves from a place of publication, where his problem was a problem for everyone, to a place of isolation and solitude, where it’s just him and God. Have you ever been here, where people who wanted to help you just couldn’t help you? Your problem was not insufficient strength, but a heart that will not concede to God. You just can’t see it God’s way. But here we learn that God is no gentleman to a wayward heart in His child. He will drag you out of a ship, into a fish’s mouth, through a sea, and on a three day journey in one day, to get you to face Him, to pray, and  to turn toward His way. 

Yuri Solomon holds degrees from Gospel Ministry Outreach Theological Institute and the College of Biblical Studies. He is author of the book Biblical Masculinity. More info @ www.wordtalkonline.org