Praying When Prayer Is All That Is Left Series

When he was totally exhausted at the end of his rope...no where else to turn...only then did he cry out for God’s help.

At first, Jonah probably thought he was going to die. But after a number of hours, he said, “Hey wait a minute! I think God may be up to sometime here. There is enough air to breathe. The heat isn’t as intolerable as I thought at first. I’m going to make it! This fish isn’t the sign of my destruction but he means of my deliverance! Thank You Lord!”

R. T. Kendall put it this way, he said: the belly of the fish is not a happy place to LIVE, but it is a good place to LEARN. And Jonah had a lot to LEARN...For three days in that smelly, dark fish belly he pondered his situation. He did a lot of soul-searching. He eventually saw the foolishness of his sin. He saw his need for God and then he prayed again the prayer that makes up most of this second chapter. When Jonah had turned his back on God, it did not bother him to be separated from God. But suddenly, when Jonah was thrown over board, as he faced death, he found that it bothered him tremendously to be separated from God. The most terrifying aspect of Jonah’s plight was when he realized that God had almost given him what he wanted – to be free of his presence. Jonah wanted to run from God. Now the implications of that separation bring Jonah to repentance.

J. Vernon McGee tells the story of a young man who was like Jonah was running from the call of God. His parents had made him attend a Revival meeting at his home church which he did two nights in succession. And he knew that if he went yet another time, he not only would accept Christ as his Savior but would also give his life to enter the ministry…. So that night after everybody went to bed, he got an extra shirt and his pajamas and ran off to Mississippi. There he got a job in a sawmill….

One afternoon after he had worked there for about two weeks, … he caught his index finger on his right hand in one of the logs. He felt himself being pulled along the carriage toward that big band saw. He began to yell at the top of his voice, but by that time, the other end of the log had hit the saw and was already going through…. nobody could hear him. He was yelling at the top of his voice, very frightened as he found himself being pulled against his will right into that saw.

It would take only about forty-five seconds for him to get to the saw…. In that forty-five seconds, he had prayed to the Lord. He accepted Christ as his Savior, promised the Lord he would go into the ministry and do His will, and told Him a lot of other things also! McGee said, My preacher friend used to say that he told the Lord more in that forty-five seconds than he has ever told Him in an hour’s prayer since then.” [J. Vernon MGee. Thru the Bible Commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program.). (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1981) (electronic ed. -1997)]

I believe that Jonah prayer on the way down was like that.

Notice Not only When He Prayed But also ….

• Notice To Whom He Prays