THE PRAYER FROM the belly of a fish

Have you ever felt like God was finished with you? Perhaps you’ve strayed so far from God that you don’t know if you can ever get back. If so, you might want to read the prayer from the strangest of all locations—inside a fish!

God had a tough job for Jonah, which he didn’t want. Jonah attempted something many of us have tried: he ran away (or, more literally, sailed away) from the Lord. As you might imagine, that didn’t work out too well.

The Lord sent a violent storm to disrupt Jonah’s escape plan. A watery death seemed inevitable. Until . . .

Gulp! A giant fish swallowed Jonah, and that is when he prayed a most unusual prayer. “You saved me!” This prayer was not uttered from a hotel bedroom or even a sandy beach; he prayed it from the belly of the fish that had ‘eaten’ him! This is a strange version of salvation!

But Jonah knew God was using this bizarre event to save his life and put him back on track. When the fish threw him up, he was ready to obey.

No matter how far away from God you feel, you are never too far to get back into the centre of His will for you. And, like Jonah, you’ll find out it’s never too late to return to Him in prayer.