The story of Jonah is strange and filled with surprises. He is the only prophet who runs in the opposite direction, the true wise men of the story are Gentile sailors, there is a rescue-ish fish, and, at the end, Jonah is one cranky prophet—to name a few. Then there is his prayer, spoken from the fish’s belly, which closely follows the tradition of the psalms of thanksgiving. It ends, “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you. Salvation belongs to the Lord” (2:9). And it is in the past tense. God has already done it.
This prayer may be the most unexpected feature of them all, and it is good for our souls. How can Jonah speak this prayer from the belly of a fish, as though he had already been delivered? He went from being thrown into a raging sea into something just as dangerous and more gross. Perhaps then we too can have high hopes and add a psalm of thanksgiving to our days, even when they are not going so well.
Jonah’s prayer fits between these words.
“I called out to the LORD, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the
