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In Jonah Chapter 2, the prophet is in the belly of the great fish and the prophet is praying.

Verse 3 – Jonah feels cast out – an outcast – and yet he isn’t.

Verse 4 – He feels he has been banished – if only he knew.

When Jonah remembered the Lord he began to think and speak in spiritual terms.

This is not a nice place to be in – but a good place to learn.

In the worst extremity of life Jonah turns back to God – many do – and for some it can last.

One lesson we can learn is to get our anchor down before the storm comes – to be secure and assured and reassured in Christ Jesus before that storm blows upon us.

Jonah asks for mercy. He does not blame the sailors. Jonah somehow saw God’s hand in all this. You hurled me. These were Your waves and breakers. There is such detail in these sentences. It was God who was in all of this.

Verse 7 – He is looking again towards God’s holy Temple. I will pray again. I will again offer sacrifices. I will fulfil my vows.

I vowed to be a preacher. I will go and preach.

In a sense Jonah had to be willing not to be used. Jonah would not see his surroundings, but he is praying and that is what matters. His surroundings are serious and dismal, but at least he has been rescued from drowning.

Was Jonah glad to be rescued from the sea – although perhaps not in the way he would have wished?

There is no request regarding how he might get out of this tomb. He simply pours out his heart to God in Praise and Thanksgiving.

Jonah leaves his deliverance to God. Jonah leaves his means of escape to God – if there is to be any means of escape. There was nothing he could do about it. The means of escape is God’s business.

At this stage Jonah has no concern about his future – if he is to have a future!

God could have raised up someone else.

If you are called to do something for God – do it.

Do not settle for mediocre Christianity.

It must be terrible to discover that God does not need you – in the sense of seeing someone else doing the job God has called you to do.

The one thing a Christian may never do is resign.

Spiritual blessings and privileges are seldom truly valued until we no longer have them.

We can lose the blessings of the Lord by carelessness and worldliness, as well as by deliberate disobedience.

It is when we are too comfortable that we begin to slide.

Jonah is looking again towards the Temple in Jerusalem – and we see the opposite now from the state of rebellious disobedience.

Real relevant faith is revealed in this Chapter. Nothing is to be allowed to be an obstacle to real faith in Almighty God.

This prayer is a profound poem. Jonah was a prisoner.

Paul, much later, saw himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ – and not of Rome.

Joseph saw God’s hand in that lengthy period of maltreatment, slavery and imprisonment.

God was looking for this response, from Jonah.

Jonah was only alive by the grace of God – therefore his life was to be lived unto Him, in utter and total obedience.

God is so patient. He will have us back again.

God could have sent someone else to Nineveh.

I know you have let Me down – but I want you back!

God has His way of getting you back to where you started.

Verse 10 - God spoke to the fish! God can, with a word, release us from the tangles and distresses and pressures.

God displays here His mercy – His protection – His deliverance – and His timing is perfect.

Jonah is delivered onto dry land – no more water for Jonah. Water in this situation had represented judgment.

Jonah is disgorged unceremonially and unconventionally.

Jonah had to get rid of being too possessive, and too concerned about making all his own decisions – as he tried to run his own life.

When Jesus was asked for a sign, Jesus pointed to Jonah. My resurrection from the dead will be a sign to the whole world as Jonah was a sign to Nineveh.

In both cases – in both scenarios – God’s Word was taken to the Gentiles.

"Bible verse and quote" from Jan Couns

Bible and Quote - February 10-14