Jon 2:7 | KingComments | STEP | We sense how the heart of Jonah comes to rest more and more. Despair is changing more and more into hope, which dawns increasingly in his heart. That hope can never be the result of changed circumstances, because he is still in the stomach of the fish. He has no reference point at all. He is in ink black darkness. He does not know where he is going. More than anyone else has experienced, Jonah experiences how the remembrance of the LORD lifts a person beyond his circumstances. It looks like that Jonah, precisely because of his stay in the fish, saw that the LORD was working to save him. From that he drew hope. In any case, he was able to breathe for three days because he would of course have drowned in the water otherwise. He speaks with faith that his prayer has arrived in God’s holy temple. This might be the experience of anyone who, in his life, finds himself in a situation in which every way out seems closed. He may know that God is there. It is God’s intention that through such situations we will learn what Paul learned: “seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up” ( , Darby Translation). When Jonah despaired of life, he remembered the LORD, and prayed to Him. He has seen the hand of God in the storm and in the lot, but in his deepest need he looks at God Himself. When prayer comes to God, He helps and saves.

‏ Jonah 2:7

The Way Out

We sense how the heart of Jonah comes to rest more and more. Despair is changing more and more into hope, which dawns increasingly in his heart. That hope can never be the result of changed circumstances, because he is still in the stomach of the fish. He has no reference point at all. He is in ink black darkness. He does not know where he is going. More than anyone else has experienced, Jonah experiences how the remembrance of the LORD lifts a person beyond his circumstances.

It looks like that Jonah, precisely because of his stay in the fish, saw that the LORD was working to save him. From that he drew hope. In any case, he was able to breathe for three days because he would of course have drowned in the water otherwise.

He speaks with faith that his prayer has arrived in God’s holy temple. This might be the experience of anyone who, in his life, finds himself in a situation in which every way out seems closed. He may know that God is there.

It is God’s intention that through such situations we will learn what Paul learned: “seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up” (2Cor 4:8b, Darby Translation). When Jonah despaired of life, he remembered the LORD, and prayed to Him. He has seen the hand of God in the storm and in the lot, but in his deepest need he looks at God Himself. When prayer comes to God, He helps and saves.