The dark truth about Jonah (Part Two)

         

   Chapter two and we find our "hero" trapped in the belly of a fish. Think about how that must have smelled, and felt. Imagine the fe4ar Jonah felt-- surely death was next on his agenda! Jonah is fearful for his life and pens his fear a poem: 

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
    and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
    into the very heart of the seas,
    and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
    swept over me.

 I said, ‘I have been banished
    from your sight;
yet I will look again
    toward your holy temple.’
 The engulfing waters threatened me,
    the deep surrounded me;
    seaweed was wrapped around my head.
 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
    the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.

 “When my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
    to your holy temple.

 “Those who cling to worthless idols
    turn away from God’s love for them.
 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
    will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
    I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

 

Here, Jonah appeals to God for his mercy and essentially begs for his life. He admits his wrongdoing and acknowledges that His destiny—his fate—is in God’s hands. In fact, the only reason he is still living is because of the Lord’s compassion. Jonah is thinking about himself, but, when one recalls that his mission was to go to Nineveh and tell the Ninevites to repent or be destroyed=--it adds an extra layer to Jonah’s predicament. If he had simply obeyed God in the first place, he wouldn’t be in the belly of a fish.

            God hears Jonah and causes the fish to vomit Jonah onto the shore—most likely the shores of Nineveh. As an emetophobic person, the idea of being vomited up is absolutely horrifying. Here’s Jonah, already trapped inside of a stinky fish, and now he’s on the shore, covered in bile and whatever the great fish ate in the interim. Picture Jonah, covered in filth and the ickiness. Absolutely disgusting. I wonder if this is how God sees the sin in our lives that aren’t covered by the blood of His son.

            Jonah, my dude, this was unavoidable.

`Jonah ahs been given another chance, but what will he do with his next chance? Will his brush with death and encounter with the travails of running from God lead him to do what is required of him? God literally placed him where he wanted him to be. There's no running from God, He gets what he wants.  Chapters 3 and 4 will answer the question of what Jonah does with his forced opportunity.