S154P5 – Sincerity in prayer: Jonah

Jon. 2:7-9

When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.  Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.  But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.  Salvation belongs to the LORD!

Jonah was in a dark place both naturally and spiritually.  I am sure that the cartoon and stage depictions of this scene do it little justice, if any.  God had sustained him in the belly of a great fish, which seems impossible.  Yet, he was unharmed and remained there for several days.  The natural darkness was the result of his circumstances.  The spiritual darkness was the result of his heart.  Jonah did not want to obey God because he did not desire what God desired.  He tried to run in the other direction, but God had a plan for him.  In the belly of that fish, Jonah was confined.  He was trapped by his own disobedience, and it would take this drastic measure to wake him up.

Jonah’s prayer seems to come from the realization that God had him in his hands.  That meant that God was caring for him, but it also meant that God was to be in control of his life.  He prayed for God to save him from those waters, and the Lord put him in a safe but challenging place.  That was for him to learn that he needed to change.  Jonah realized that God knows better.  Of course, we would see Jonah come back to the same conflict of not wanting what God wants.  I would not say that this future reversion means that this prayer was insincere.  Jonah was going through the process of learning the heart of God, and we cannot be sure how that process ultimately ended for him.

Unfortunately, it is natural in our sinful state to want the opposite of what God wants.  We confess our love for him and our desire to please him, but it does not mean that we always want what He wants.  The way to correct this is to continue the process of being transformed in our hearts.  We must daily seek to love what He loves and desire what He desires.  If we love him, we will obey him.  That is the expectation He has set.  Hopefully, we realize what Jonah realized in this prayer.  Resting in the hands of God is about comfort and protection but also about obedience and sacrifice.  Father, help us to want to have our hearts and our desires aligned with yours, obediently following your commands.