NOTES for Jon 2:8

It is not often in our lives that we know exactly what God’s will is for us, the path on which He Himself has set us and on which He will help us. But sometimes this does happen. Such understanding comes at least once in every person’s life. Sometimes we do not dare to follow this path. The reasons may differ, and in one person’s life all these different reasons may be intertwined. We may not love ourselves, and out of this lack of love sink into false humility and conclude, ‘I am too sinful,’ ‘not good enough to fulfill this will of God for me.’ It may be fear of other people, fear that they will not accept this path. But beneath all these reasons for indecision there is, in fact, one problem: unbelief.

It turns out that we do not believe God created us good enough to do His will, or that He created other people good enough to accept our path, even a very unusual one. Nor do we believe that even if we encounter serious difficulties and trials, including those arising from clashes with other people, this too is part of the path. Ultimately, we do not believe that God will sustain us in a difficult moment, that He will be with us in these trials. He is always near, but if we follow the path He has prepared especially for us, it is easier to sense His presence and help. Sometimes, however, unbelief, fears, and doubts become so deafening that, like Jonah, we choose to flee. Then God has no option but to send us into the belly of a whale. This is not punishment. It is the only way to get through to us. Inside the ‘whale’ there are no external influences: it is dark and quiet, there is no one but oneself, and even God seems very far away. Yet one cannot perish inside the ‘whale’ either: one will not drown, the whale swims well, and it is warm and secure… Such a ‘whale’ may be a serious and prolonged, but not fatal, illness, or depression. In short, a situation in which we feel very little, are extremely lonely, and have to look honestly at ourselves and our lives.

Then we can see that we have lost our way, understand that the loving Lord was waiting on the path we abandoned, call on Him for help as Jonah did, find the resolve to follow Him—and become free.

The translation familiar to us says that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, although in the original language the text mentions dag gadol, a great fish. Taking the translation literally provoked unfounded but persistent ridicule from opponents of religion, who liked to point to the size of a whale's gullet, unable to swallow a human being. Yet cases of people being swallowed by certain large predatory fish are known. Even so, the species of the creature mentioned in the Book of Jonah is less important than the meaning of the account.

We see Jonah calm, trusting in God. Looking back now, we can see even in Jonah's calm deep inside the ship during the storm a pledge of his calm inside the fish. But inside the ship, Jonah himself was trying to withdraw from God; inside the fish, he received what he had been seeking, for the Lord gave him that opportunity. Each of us, by turning away from Him, may find ourselves swallowed by a similar fish. It can take any form and appear amid any outward circumstances. It then depends on us whether we cry out to God through the barriers separating us from Him, barriers that have arisen from our own actions and desires.

Jonah's prayer from the depths is an inspired psalm expressing the hope not only of an ancient prophet, but of any of us who fall, often sinking into a state of rejection and abandonment, yet not abandoned by God even then. He is with us everywhere and is ready to lead us out of despair and black darkness, just as He brought Jonah out onto dry land.

…Centuries would pass, and Christ, comparing His time in the tomb with Jonah's time in the whale's belly, would reveal to His listeners that no other sign would be given them ‘except the sign of the prophet Jonah’ (Matt. 12:39–40). Would it be stretching the point to note that Jonah's willingness to sacrifice himself for his fellow voyagers also resembled the coming self-sacrifice of the Son of Man?

Each chapter of the book of the prophet Jonah is a concise and accurate outline of how a person behaves after encountering the will of God. Knowing what he ought to do, Jonah flees, tries to hide, refuses even to pray, and as a result finds himself in a hopeless situation. It is easy to replace the belly of the whale with something more understandable and familiar: illness, failure, depression, loneliness, or a lack of understanding. Everything that deprives us of the will to live and plunges us into despair. Everything that is for us an obvious consequence of our disobedience to God, of our sin. All this is the belly of the whale, where we suddenly realize that escape is possible only by turning to the One who makes even the laws of nature act as His will pleases.