In Part One we considered the fact that Jonah was perishing. He had been chucked out of the boat, not by accident, but because he had completely disobeyed God, and he was going to drown and then God rescued him by causing a big fish to come swallow him. It was from the belly of the fish that he prayed this prayer. He cried out,
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. Jonah 2:2
Not to make a meal out of crumbs, but observe that Jonah said his prayer. He prayed to God with words that were later written down for the benefit of all of us. Words were of use to him. He expressed himself to God in language and God understood what he had said. What a comfort this ought to be. Surely our language, our ability to rightly communicate is broken. A person says one thing, the hearer understands only a fragment of what was said, the conclusion is that God is beyond language. That's fine to be going on with when you're all settled cozy in your chair with a glowing screen of wonder to absorb all your attention and love, but you'll discover how well language works when you're drowning or dying or in pain, and you will expect that God will understand you and not be all that surprised when you find out he did.
Jonah says the prayer, and then writes down the prayer, and the first bit is all about where he was and how he cried out and that God heard him. “I called out to the Lord” says Jonah. Not gently whispering, not a measured, considered, intellectually sound 'O Lord, if you could spare a moment, I seem to be in a bad way'. Not that. No, a call, a cry, “out of my distress”. A person in distress might have a heavy dose of panic, of frantic insistence, going on. This isn't you having an existential wondering about anything, this is you screaming and crying and begging for help. “Out of my distress”. No kidding. Out of my screaming for help because I'm actually dying.
And when you called “out of your distress” God said, “I'll be right there but I've got some other things to do first.” And then he said, “you don't have enough faith so I can't help you”. And then he said, “you're too big of a sinner”. And then he said, and this is really what I'm pretty sure he's going to say, “I don't love you, I don't want to help you”. Isn't that why we put off calling out? Because we know that “the Lord can deliver the godly out of trouble, but he doesn't always bother” to misquote some movie or other. One would have expected Jonah, of all people, to feel a moment of pause about calling out to God, since it was God who compelled him to be chucked into the water as a direct and fair consequence for disobedience. But Jonah nevertheless cries out.
“And he answered me.” The Lord answered. And then Jonah flips his head around from talking to you, and addresses God directly, as if he were still right there, listening and watching. 'Remember,' says Jonah to God, 'how I called out to you from Sheol, from the land of the dead, I was basically dead, and you, you heard my voice?' You, who are here now that I am safe, but who was also there in the land of the dead. There isn't anywhere I can go that is completely beyond God's reach and God's hearing. Even when I am running away into catastrophic sin. Even when I am totally strung out with stress and failure. Even when I am doing well. Even when I am standing in a grocery aisle watching my own kid writhe on the floor while the world watches and judges. Even when my kids fail. Even when I have to face down the person I've built up to be a trial and a trouble. Even when everything around me is broken and destroyed. In all those places, if I cry out in desperation, distress, sorrow, anger, panic, the Lord is there and will hear my voice.
Another time, Part Three.
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