Jonah’s Prayer: Good Example or Bad Example?

Jonah is tossed into the sea. He sinks down to the bottom of the ocean, weeds entangling his head, breakers washing over him.

Then the Lord sends a fish to swallow him whole. In the belly of the fish, Jonah prays to the Lord and thanks God for rescuing him.

When my husband and I studied Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2 in preparation for teaching it in Sunday School, I pointed out all the ways the prayer of Jonah in chapter 2 was a good example of prayer. My husband saw the ways the prayer is a bad example of prayer.

Read Jonah 2 here and take note of the ways it is a good example of prayer and the ways it is a bad example of prayer. Did you notice any of the specifics that we did?

Jonah's Prayer: Good Example or Bad Example?

Good Example of Prayer

  • Jonah knows Scripture and he prays it back to God. Look in your Bible at the footnotes in verses 2-4. Jonah quoted many verses from the Psalms like Psalm 18:6 “In my distress I called upon the Lord.”
  • Jonah gives specific testimony of deliverance. His beautifully poetic description of his descent to the bottom of the sea goes beyond a quick “thank you for my blessings” prayer.
  • Jonah turns to God in prayer even when it seems hopeless. Jonah prays to the Lord from the bottom of the sea when there is no natural possibility of rescue. Jonah 2:6 is a “but God” passage. (Other “but God” passages include Ephesians 2:4, Genesis 8:1, 50:20, Psalm 49:15, Acts 2:24, 10:40, 13:30, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 7:6, Philippians 2:27.)

Bad Example of Prayer

  • Jonah is thinking only of physical salvation and not spiritual salvation when he prays “salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). He is thankful for his bodily life being saved from drowning. Ironically, in chapter 4 he wants God to take his life rather than watch Nineveh “get away with” their actions. It’s not wrong to pray for the physical things in life, but don’t forget the spiritual, too.
  • Jonah is not broken-hearted for the lost. He calls them “those pagan people” in verse 8. Ironically, in chapter 1 the pagan sailors do turn to the Lord and in chapter 3 pagan Nineveh does, too. God has invited and instructed Jonah to join in God’s mission to reach the unbelievers around him, yet he is only concerned with himself and being able to worship in the temple again (Jonah 2:4.)

Did Jonah Ever Learn?

I feel bad for Jonah. He gets a bad rap. Yes, of course, he did deserve the discipline he received from the Lord and he deserved even more discipline since in chapter 4 he is angry that God relented of his judgment on Nineveh and withers the vine. But I like to think that Jonah truly did learn from his experience in the fish and he anger over the vine. After all, Jonah is likely the person who wrote this book that bears his name. If you were Jonah, and you never learned from your past, would you have written your life story this way?

I believe Jonah purposefully ended his book on a bad note so the reader would be outraged at Jonah’s lack of compassion and be compelled by the Holy Spirit to do what Jonah did not.

  • To have compassion for those who are spiritually lost even those who are political enemies.
  • To be unselfish with God’s love and mercy.
  • To join God’s mission to share the gospel with the world.

3 comments

  1. Have you read Timothy Keller’s The Prodigal Prophet. At the end, on p.227 he writes: “How do we know Jonah was so recalcitrant, defiant, and clueless? How do we know that he made that unbelievable “I hate the God of love” speech? How do we know about his prayer inside the fish? The only way we could possibly know these things is if Jonah told others. What kind of man would let the world see what a fool he was? Only someone who had become joyfully secure in God’s love. Only someone who believed that he was simultaneously sinful but completely accepted. In short, someone who has found in the gospel of grace the very power of God (Romans 1:16).”

    I love this story so much because I see God’s grace to me personally threaded through it. I wanted to “belong” to “the church” so much, that again and again I ran from God’s purpose for my life. I kept my mouth shut, when He asked me to speak up in churches and placated to please, rather than living the truth He had opened my heart to receive when He called me home.

    I failed to see Him in those He placed right in front of me – people yearning for Him, who though they have fled Him (like I did as a Prodigal for 20+ years) are still SO full of Him (God NEVER forsakes His children, even when they run in fear and shame, believing in an idol). I didn’t see Him in them because I put the opinion of man above the Word of God – above the Promises He has repeatedly spoken over my friends and family members who have fled. I wanted my “church” and wasn’t prepared to give it up. But Jesus took it from me and OH how thankful I am to Him. He has led me to SO much repentance.

    All this to say: I love what you and your husband saw in Jonah’s prayer. Yes: it shows both his humanity and the power of God. God isn’t perturbed by our weakness- He never ever relents until like the Psalmist in Psalm 119 we thank him for our afflictions, when we see that they have led us to love His Word, to do His will.

    • Oh, thank you for telling me about Tim Keller’s book! I didn’t know that it existed. I’m glad to know that I’m not off the mark in thinking Jonah learned from his sins here. And thank you for sharing your testimony of how God has worked in your life and brought you to repentance. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment!

  2. 40 years ago a man named LONNIE FRISBEE showed me the story as HE had me in the belly of the WHALE and I saw JESUS then. No other way.
    Bradley
    Allen
    Scott

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