The Cry from the Depths

Review of Jonah 1
When we run from God’s word, we run from God.
When we run from God, He runs after us.
When we run from God, we run over people.

Jonah's lament is not a white flag of surrender, but a red-flag cry of desperation, longing for the God he’s pushed away.

Context and Structure
• Now the LORD had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
• Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish (Jonah 1:17-2:1)
• Jonah's Lament (Jonah 2:2-9)
• Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach (Jonah 2:10)

Jonah 2:1-6a
1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish. 2 He said,
“I cried out to the LORD in my great trouble,
   and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead,
   and LORD, you heard me!
3 You threw me into the ocean depths,
   and I sank down to the heart of the sea.
The mighty waters engulfed me;
   I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
4 Then I said, ‘O LORD, you have driven me from your presence.
   Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’
5 “I sank beneath the waves,
   and the waters closed over me.
Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
   I was imprisoned in the earth,
   whose gates lock shut forever.

Has your pride distorted your desperation?
 
Jonah 2:4, 7
4 Then I said, ‘O LORD, you have driven me from your presence.
   Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’

7 As my life was slipping away,
   I remembered the LORD.
And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.

Our greatest need for mercy is relational, not circumstantial.

Jonah 2:6b-10
6 But you, O LORD my God,
   snatched me from the jaws of death!
7 As my life was slipping away,
   I remembered the LORD.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
   in your holy Temple.
8 Those who worship false gods
   turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
   and I will fulfill all my vows.
For my salvation comes from the LORD alone.”
10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.
   Your obedience is the sincerest form of gratitude for God’s mercy.

What does Jonah 2 mean for us?
If you're in the "depths,” cry out!
Recognize that the cost of independence is a loss of intimacy.
Turn toward His presence, and God will close the distance.