Swallowed by Grace

(Morning Service)

Text: Jonah 2

We pick up the story as Jonah takes his last gulp of air before being thrown down into the depths of the sea where, surprisingly, he finds God. Throughout all of chapter 1, Jonah runs from the presence of the Lord but even in the darkest, loneliness depths of despair in chapter 2, we find that God is still there. We will explore how moments in the belly of the fish are often the place where we become sensitive God’s presence in our life.

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“Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying,

“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.
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.
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
at 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.
Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”


And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

(Jonah 2 ESV)”