Singing a prayer

This past week-end Ray spoke to the church about Jonah and his attempt to run from God. We heard about the "Word from the Lord" that Jonah wasn't ready to hear. His attempt to run away was met with a short swim in the sea that was interrupted by becoming bait for a "big fish". Jonah is now in the belly of this fish for three days and nights. Ray told us how when Jonah realized his mistake, and was at his lowest point in life ( bottom of the sea ), he called out to God in prayer and God heard him. I know that Ray mentioned the prayer of Jonah, and he even highlighted a line within the prayer, but I wondered if anyone took time to read the complete prayer.

As I read through the prayer, I come across terms that Jonah spoke that sounded familiar to me; like, maybe I have read something like this before; not the whole prayer, but definitely parts of it. Do you ever sense that when you are reading in the bible? When it does happen to me, I start to try and find out where I have read this before. It didn't take long, and having references in my bible really helped me. Did you know that the prayer of Jonah is made up, almost entirely, from passages in the Psalms? Nearly every line is from a Psalm. Really!? That excited me; to know that here was a man; a prophet of God; in the belly of a big fish; near death; and he recites a personal psalm to God. Better yet, he sings a song to his God who hears from His "holy temple". Jonah is singing. At the lowest point of his journey, he sings and God listened and heard and responded.

To some people, we are about to be swallowed up by a big fish. I can feel it closing in on me. This big fish has a name; "questions". What's next? What will we do? What about...? They go on forever. I really don't want to spend any time in the belly of this fish. So, I have decided to sing; every Saturday night; every Sunday morning; everyday. And, I know that my God will listen to this song; He will hear; He will respond, and He will deliver us. Our song is His psalm, and His psalm is our song. This week-end we will sing, and our God will hear.