ESOCS Devotional 4 September 2024 – Salvation is of the Lord
MEMORY VERSE: ““Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly. And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.” Jonah 2:1-2 KJV
TEXT: JONAH 1:17; 2:1-10
Now the Lord had prepared 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 the fish’s belly. 2 And he said:
“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,
And He answered me.
“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
3 For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;
Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
7 “When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.
8 “Those who regard worthless idols
Forsake their own Mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.”
10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
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Jonah’s story is quite familiar to most Christians, as nearly all of us who have grown up in the church heard it more than once during our days in children’s Sunday school. Despite our familiarity with Jonah’s ministry, however, we must note that there is a common misunderstanding about one major portion of the account. After Jonah was thrown into the sea, God appointed a “great fish” to swallow the prophet, and he remained within the belly of the fish for three days and for three nights (Jonah 1:17). People tend to see the fish as an instrument of the Lord’s judgment when, in fact, the fish was the very means by which our Creator saved Jonah from certain death.
While in the belly of the fish, he spoke of crying to the Lord “out of the belly of Sheol” (2:1–2). When we read that phrase in context, we see that Jonah spoke not of a fish’s stomach but of the bowels of death itself, sheol being a common Old Testament term for the grave. Jonah was cast into the sea to save the lives of the sailors en route to Tarshish (1:11–16); but the churning waters were no safe haven for the prophet. When Jonah prayed to God, he referred to the flood surrounding him, the waters closing in to take his life, and seaweed wrapping around his head (2:3–5). In His grace, the Lord rescued Jonah from the pit—the grave—even though the prophet had disobeyed His command to go to Nineveh (v. 6).
Jonah’s song in today’s passage is remarkable for two reasons. First, it indicates the authenticity of his repentance. The prophet never claimed God owed him salvation, and he never attempted to list mitigating circumstances to try to excuse his disobedience. This is true repentance— an acknowledgment of guilt before God with no attempt to explain it away and a turning to the Lord in His heavenly temple, as the only hope of forgiveness. Father Mapple, in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick captures this in his sermon: “Sinful as he is, Jonah does not weep and wait for direct deliverance. He feels that his dreadful punishment is just. He leaves all his deliverance to God, contenting himself with this, that in spite of all his pains and pangs, he will still look towards His holy temple.”
Second, Jonah’s song is notable because of its affirmation that salvation belongs to the Lord alone (Jonah 2:7–9). He was utterly helpless in the sea and unable to save himself. So, too, are we powerless to save ourselves from the wrath of our holy God.
- Take a conscious look inward, do you see the evidence of God’s grace in your life
- Lord, help the world understand we bring nothing when we come to you for salvation.
Further Reading: Judges 15:9-20; Luke 10:1-16; Acts 27:27-44
ESOCS Devotional 4 September 2024
