(REFLECTIONS ON Jonah 2:1-10)

Yes, Jonah’s prayer is significant. It shows Jonah sinking deeper and deeper into the sea and then the Lord saving him from death by appointing a great fish to swallow him. 

Perhaps what is more significant than Jonah’s prayer, is from where the prayer took place.

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish.

Jonah was on his way down to the depths of the sea, and spiritually down to the depth of Sheol (the grave/the underworld), but the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow him. 

Jonah experienced the Lord’s salvation, and it was in the place of salvation, from the stomach of the fish, that he prayed a prayer of thanksgiving. 

It was from the stomach of the fish that Jonah realized that “Salvation is from the Lord.” Not only would this realization lead Jonah to Nineveh, but it would also expose the deeper condition of his heart. 

Jonah knew that salvation was from the Lord, but now he would have to wrestle with the fact that the Lord could extend that salvation even to Nineveh.

Brothers and sisters, what are we doing from the stomach of the fish? Haven’t our lives been captured by Christ, saved from death and given new life in Him? 

Aren’t we also like Jonah, a people that have realized that “Salvation is from the Lord?” 

What then do we do with that information? First, it should lead us to remember that our life is no longer our own, but is grace manifest in us through Christ. Our life is Christ’s because “Salvation is from the Lord.” 

What then should we do with this salvation? What then should we do from the stomach of the fish? What should we do when the fish vomits us up onto the dry land? 

Let us also be people who have experienced that “Salvation is from the Lord: From the stomach of the fish,” and Go! do the works of the Lord.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Jonah 2