Upset Stomach Series

Jonah 2: 1 – 10

Upset Stomach

1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said: “ I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, and He answered me. “ Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. 3 For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God. 7 “ When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple. 8 “ Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.” 10 So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

When will we ever learn, you cannot fight against God and win. It is that simple yet we continue to fight Him in various ways ‘I’m not talking to You anymore.’ ‘Go find someone else to do Your work.’ Go find some other people to be Your elect.’ These statements are but a few that have been bantered about against our Holy God. So, sometimes our Precious Lord agrees with our ‘raised fists and voices’ and says, ‘Okay, I Will leave you alone’. We then cry out, ‘Please don’t leave me. Please come back into my life. I will obey.’ Sounds pretty much of what we read here in the second chapter.

When our Majestic Sovereign Master puts the squeeze or pressure on us, we are quick to try to get right with Him. Would you agree? Have you ever experienced some difficult times and felt like God was disciplining you?. If you haven’t gone through any tight times, then please submit your name for official ‘Sainthood’.

Jonah did not have the same advantage that we have, and that is, we know the full story. He had to experience it without knowing the outcome. He did not know that God had arranged a bunch of significant details in order to wake up His servant.

We last saw Jonah bobbing in the sea. As I mentioned in chapter 1 The Lord prepared a large fish. This Great fish was probably not a whale. I pictured it being a great white shark. I know that type of experience and rescue would have a bigger impact on my life, How about yours? Our Holy Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High had set a miracle in order to prevent Jonah from drowning.

If we jump to the fact of the great fish, we miss an important miracle – that is – our Lord had given the exact instruction to this fish to be at just the right spot. Our Holy Adoni Yahweh had additionally used this type of assistance to help one of His disciples by the name of Peter. We read this in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 17, “24 When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” 26 Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

Peter was set up by the religious leaders. He spouted off to them. Please note how our Precious Lord and Savior Jesus knew of this confrontation. As soon as He saw Peter He went over this interaction. Look at how He had perfectly arranged for a fish to swallow a coin and be at the right location and grab a hold of the fishing line. Some coincidence huh?

Our Lord gave the instruction for the fish to swallow, not take a bite. Jonah was bobbing in the water in one second and the next – gulp!