Praying with Jonah
During our brief series on Jonah, I won’t be able to preach on a feature of Jonah’s prayer that I nevertheless believe is very important, so I offer it to you today in written form. Here it is: Jonah’s prayer is not an isolated cry but a life-long learned petition deeply rooted in the language and themes of the Psalms. Understanding this connection offers us vital lessons about how to pray with deeper faith, hope, and love.
Sinclair Ferguson notes the echoes of Psalms 18, 42, 102, 119, 130, and 139 in Jonah’s Psalm-Prayer. Other scholars add 5, 120, 118, 69, 71, 86 and 88. In other words, this prayer in the depths of distress arises from a heart deeply immersed in the language of the Psalms.
Why is that so important? The Psalms are the lyric of Israel’s faith, indeed, the faith of all of God’s people for all ages. Many Christians pray through the Psalter every month, singing our lives to God in prayers of acclamation, adoration, complaint, proclamation, lamentation, petition, and instruction. The Psalms give us the vocabulary our hearts need for communion with God. Jonah knew it. He’d read, heard, and prayed the Psalms his entire life, and when he was in distress, the words he’d hidden in his heart erupted upwards in a desperately grateful cry for mercy.
Parallels Between Jonah’s Prayer and the Psalms
Invocation of Distress: Jonah begins his prayer with a cry of distress, mirroring the laments found in many Psalms. For instance, Jonah 2:2 states, "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me." This echoes Psalm 18:6, "In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help."
Imagery of Waters and Sheol: Jonah uses vivid imagery to describe his plight, such as being engulfed by waters and descending to the depths of Sheol. This is reminiscent of Psalm 69:1-2, "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold." The imagery of Sheol, the realm of the dead, is also prevalent in the Psalms (e.g., Psalm 30:3).
Expression of Confidence in Deliverance: Despite his dire circumstances, Jonah expresses confidence in God's deliverance. Jonah 2:6b says, "But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit." Similarly, Psalm 30:3 declares, "You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit."
Promise of Thanksgiving and Worship: Jonah concludes his prayer with a vow of thanksgiving and a promise to fulfill his vows to God (Jonah 2:9). This is akin to the resolutions found in the Psalms, such as Psalm 50:14, "Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High."
Learning to Pray Through the Psalms
Jonah's prayer demonstrates how the Psalms can shape and inform our own prayers. The Psalms provide a rich vocabulary for expressing the full range of human emotions before God and provide the school in which we can grow in our knowledge of God and his ways. Here are several lessons we can learn from Jonah about using the Psalms in our prayers:
Embracing Honest Emotions: The Psalms teach us to bring our shattered souls to God in honest boldness. The full range of human experience—from elation to desolation and bold confidence to fearful anxiousness—is present in the Psalms. Whether it is fear, despair, joy, or gratitude, the Psalms give us the vocabulary of faith to lift our hearts to God. Jonah’s prayer, steeped in the language of the Psalms, shows us that we can and should bring our true feelings to God.
If churches do not have space for lamentation services, sing no songs of mourning, and have no words for sorrow and loss - and how contrary to Scripture is that!!! - they are teaching people that such experiences are outside of the faith, that their Savior has no tears at the grave of his friend, that God is not present in our sorrows, and that the mournful have no comfort in worship. They must mourn alone until they’re back to a happy-clappy, victorious point of view. This will not do, and it is not Biblical.
Utilizing Biblical Language: By using the language of the Psalms, our prayers can become more deeply rooted in Scripture and our consciousness more enveloped by truth. The Psalms offer a way to articulate thoughts and desires that we might struggle to express ourselves. Jonah’s familiarity with the Psalms allowed him to draw from them spontaneously in his need.
Fostering a Deep Connection with God: Praying the Psalms helps cultivate a deeper relationship with God. The Psalms are filled with declarations of God’s character, recounting His mighty acts and expressing trust in His unfailing love. By incorporating these elements into our prayers, as Jonah did, we remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done. By praying the Psalms, we grow in the knowledge of God our Savior.
Guiding Structured Prayer: The Psalms provide a structured guide for those who find prayer challenging. The various types of Psalms—lament, thanksgiving, praise, and supplication—offer a model for different kinds of prayer. Jonah’s prayer follows a structure that mirrors these forms, helping us understand how to approach God in various circumstances.
Encouraging Persistence in Prayer: The persistent cries for help found in the Psalms encourage us to be persistent in our own prayers. Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the fish was not a one-time plea but part of a continuous dialogue with God. The Psalms encourage us to keep praying, even when answers seem delayed. We are called to persistent prayer that “gives God no rest” (Isaiah 62) until he acts.
Balancing Personal and Communal Aspects: The Psalms reflect both individual and communal aspects of prayer. Jonah, though alone in the fish, prayed in a way that connected him to the broader faith community of Israel. Using the Psalms can help us balance our personal needs with a sense of solidarity with others in the faith. One may not be oppressed or downcast; one may not be grieving or doubting; one may not be hungry and in exile - but there are many who are experiencing such things every day. When we pray words that reflect that reality, we join them in the fellowship of suffering as well as rejoicing, looking to help others in their pain.
It’s All About Jesus
“Buried in the heart of the sea, Jonah shouts from Sheol, where Jesus is to come and conquer.” - Philip Cary
Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the fish is a powerful example of how the Psalms can also point us to Christ. He is the Greater Jonah who comes to have mercy on us all, idol-hearted Ninevites and blockheaded prophets alike. Many Psalms, called “Messianic Psalms,” speak directly of Jesus’ life, suffering, death, and ministry (see Psalm 2, 22, 23, 24, 110 as examples). Still, every Psalm speaks of him, reveals him, and points us to him, and in them all, we hear him speaking to us, singing over us, interceding for us, and leading us in worship. Praying the Psalms will take us closer to Christ and, with Jonah, deeper into mercy.
Repeat After Me
Jonah learned to pray through the repetitive soaking of his soul in the Psalms. So can we. Immersed in the rich language and themes of the Psalms, we can learn to bring our broken hearts to God for comfort, mending, and cleansing. We can deepen our friendship with God and grow in faith through persistent prayer as we cry out to him in dark places.
I have had such an experience. When I was rushed to the ER as a terrible infection began to overtake me, and I could feel my body shutting down, my thoughts spiraling out of control, thinking that it might be the end, it was the language of the Psalms that involuntarily flowed out of me in painful, broken gasps. “I will live and not die… Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise you… look on me with mercy, O Lord… when my heart is overwhelmed, hear my cry… lead me to the rock that is higher than I… from everlasting to everlasting, you are God…” After that, it was a blur.
The rich deposit of the Psalms in Jonah’s soul gave him the prayer he needed when he reached the very bottom of human misery in the prison of death. Yet even there, like the prodigal son, he knew there was a home to return to and cried out for mercy. He knew that because he’d been singing and praying the Psalms his entire life. That’s why we will sing and pray the Psalms at SRC, offering God’s word to God in prayer, praise, and petition, knowing he will hear, come down, and deliver us.