Sometimes God uses a calamity to get our attention. Jonah's spiritual awakening followed a life-threatening crisis. He was thrown into a raging sea and swallowed by a great fish.
Well today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl explores how our most desperate moments can become our most sacred encounters with God. He's teaching from Jonah chapter 2. And whether you're running from God or simply struggling to connect with Him, today you'll discover why the belly of the fish became history's most unlikely prayer chapel. and what it means for your own spiritual journey. The Apostle Paul has written, whatever was written.
In earlier times, was written for our learning. that we through patience and comfort from the scriptures. might have hope. Paul wrote that in Romans chapter fifteen, verse four. And in the writing of it, he He had in mind the Old Testament.
Whatever was written long ago was written for our learning today. There are many who see less emphasis or less significance. I should say from the scriptures in the Old Testament, than those found in the new However, the Bible makes it clear that God's Word is equally inspired. Of whatever was written in earlier times. was written for our learning.
We're going through the book of Jonah. trying to uncover his story anew. and afresh in light of the world in which we live today. And we come to this second chapter. in the story.
And finally, Jonah connects the dots. And we find him for the first time, if you will. on his knees. Jonah is finally Calling on God. He does it in a rather unusual prayer chapel.
you would have to agree. And we will see it as we turn in our Bibles to the second chapter. Of Jonah, I want to read for you these. Ten verses. Jonah chapter Two begins Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish.
He said. I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble. And he answered me. I call to you from the land of the dead, and Lord. You heard me.
You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart. of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me. I was buried. Beneath your wild and stormy winds.
and waves. Then I said, Oh Lord, you have driven me. From your presence, yet I will look once more toward your holy temple. I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed.
wrapped itself around my head, I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth. whose gates lock shut Forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death. As my life was slipping away, I remembered.
The Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you. In your holy temple, those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies. But I will offer sacrifices to you. With songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows.
For my salvation comes from the Lord alone. Then the Lord ordered the fish. to spit Jonah out. onto the beach. You're listening to Insight for Living.
To dig deeper into the story of Jonah on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook by going to insight.org slash offer. Chuck titled today's message, Finally, Jonah Connects the Dots. Any near-death experience has a way of grabbing your attention. I am told by those who have been there that In a moment of time, like a flash. Your whole life passes in front of you.
It's as if you are reliving it. In an instant of time. Those who lived through what was for them at that moment. The fear of drowning say before they have taken their last breath. They experience that sense of.
Awareness. of how brief life is and And how real Eternity seems I almost drowned twice in my life, once when I was just a little boy. in a place called Mason Park. which is a public swimming pool. I was there and did a foolish thing.
I'd watch the big boys as they'd gone off the high dive. And I momentarily forgot that I didn't swim that well. And when you land after jumping off the high dive, you still have to get to the side of the pool, which requires swimming. And I thought I would drown had it not been for a very alert lifeguard. whom I believe While watching in a busy pool literally saved me.
Save me from drowning. It happened to me later when I was a father and had one of our younger sons, really small son, riding on my shoulders. I was holding his feet. And we were at a lake. And it was a hot day, and it just seemed like the right time for us to.
Wade into the lake. And um holding him and he's having a great time pounding on my head. Shoving his feet back and forth, and as we get a little deeper in the water, he wants to go a little deeper. And I forget that the bottom is not only muddy, but it is a sharp slope. As the lake becomes very deep very soon.
And I lose my footing, and I realize I cannot let him go. Or he will fall. And certainly too young to swim, and I would be grabbing for him, and I'm now choking. I'm now up to here, and he's having the time of his life as he's kicking his legs back and forth. And had it not been for a small root from apparently a tree, Under the surface, somehow, that had grown out, I could get a toe hold, and that one little root.
I was able to grab enough. of the surface to push toward the shore. and to make it back. And I remember choking back the tears. I remember his saying, let's do that again, Daddy.
He thought it was a top-notch ride. And I was so grateful to have made it to the shore. In a moment Uh similar to that, I was A Marine on a troop ship going from San Diego to Yokohama ultimately. to the island of Okinawa where we were In that 17-day voyage, we hit a storm at sea, which I've mentioned to you before. But toward the end of the storm, we were back in our Guard duty, and one of the young Marines, somehow on guard duty on the deck.
fell overboard. We didn't know how. We only know that because he didn't report back in, he was overboard. And through most of that night we searched and searched. There were lights all around the the Pacific as as it was still churning and and we never found it.
I'll never forget standing on guard duty the next night and reading. The ship's log. the ominous three words following his name Lost at sea. What a treacherous thought. Fully clothed, no doubt still holding his rifle.
Perhaps screaming at the top of his voice, and we never. could find him. I read more recently Wicked men and women may be found among sailors. But when they are lost at sea, none is ever an atheist. There is no atheist.
Lost at sea. You long for God, you call on God. You scream for help. Hoping for rescue. There is nothing like a raging sea to acquaint you with a God you have chosen.
to deny. Perhaps the psalmist had some of this in mind. when he wrote in the hundred seventh psalm Verses 23 and 24. Those who go down to the sea in ships. Have seen the works of the Lord.
and his wonders In the deep. It's amazing what being at sea Especially a rough, deep sea. will do to your prayer life. It's amazing. Speaking of prayer, I have chosen to begin by.
Underscoring Several things about it that we tend to forget. Four come to mind. First, Prayer is always appropriate. There isn't a right time to pray or a wrong time. There isn't a better time.
Yeah. It's always appropriate. There isn't a right or wrong place to pray. Any question that starts with, should I pray? It's to be answered yes.
followed by the word now. Should I pray? Yes, now. It's always appropriate. Second, prayer is always a priority.
That's why the Apostle Paul begins In his letter to Timothy chapter 2, pray first. Pray first. It fits before any action. Is taken, or any decision. is to be made.
Prayer fits the beginning or the ending of any experience. You never regret it when you pray first. The reason is it engages you with the Lord. It links the two of you inseparably. Together.
Prayer is always a priority. Third, Prayer is always beneficial. It clears your mind of the mental and emotional debris. That's gathered through the day. It clears any situation of worrisome clutter.
that plagues you and complicates the situation. Prayer is needed to provide insight and discernment that we don't have. It seems to come automatically when we bow the knee. It's amazing how that cuts through the garbage. Of life.
and clarifies things. Prayer is beneficial. Fourthly, prayer is always reassuring. It reminds us we're not alone. It results in our being less fearful.
As boldness replaces weakness. and reluctance. It provides inner strength and a quiet sense of confidence. And have you noticed prayer always prompts a spirit. An attitude of gratitude.
It's almost impossible to finish time with the Lord without a thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. For this, for that, for these things.
So, when we get to this second chapter and we began with that. Long awaited word. Uh Then Bram, yeah. Jonah prayed then. Finally He hasn't prayed until now.
We first met him in chapter one. He wasn't praying in any part of that. When God said, Go to Nineveh, he responded with such words as, Would imply in your face, God. He didn't pray about that response. When he made his way to Joppa, he didn't pray about what would happen at Joppa.
When you look for a ship that might be Sailing From the shore, he didn't pray about which ship. When he bought the one-way ticket, he didn't pray before he bought the ticket. You read nothing of prayer. We've been waiting for this preacher to respond willingly and obediently to his Lord, but he's done the antithesis. Not going there, God.
There's no way. And even when he is on that ship, And awaken in the middle of that dreadful storm that's Beginning to rip that little ship apart. He doesn't pray. He doesn't even say to the sailors, we need to pray. He is willfully disconnected from his God.
And this is an appropriate place for me to tell you something. Lest you forget it. Even a preacher can live a prayerless life. We can operate in the flesh. Worse than the worst.
We can make big decisions and carry out big plans and. talk a big fight and That night, sleep like a baby. All the while faking it. Acting as though God is in it. When we haven't once engaged him in prayer.
Sometime it takes. Being thrown into a stormy C. to shake a preacher awake. We can be so stubborn. Example Jonah.
Then Finally. Showed a parade. It took all of those things I've named. That we've read about in chapter 1 to bring him to to his knees. I left out one.
As he is thrown into the sea, Fully clothed. As the cold waters of the Mediterranean Submerge him, and he now is on his way. Plunging to the bottom. with a seaweed wrapped around his head. Along comes a fish.
large enough to swallow him. That rescues him, having been sent thereby. God. The Lutheran theologian Theodore Lach, in his work titled The Minor Prophets. writes this A Christian cannot come into a place so abnormal that he or she could not pray to God there.
We cannot imagine a place more horrible. More filthy. Than the one where Jonah was in the belly of a horrible monster. in a dreadful sea, all alone, Cast away from mankind, yet Jonah. prayed there.
a model prayer. The belly of this sea monster was the prayer chapel. from which Ascended a prayer pleasing to God. Accepted and answered by him. in a truly marvelous manner.
Close quote. In application of this clear realization. Let me add, we're free to pray anywhere. Think about it. He prayed from in a fish.
You can pray in a crushed car half full of river water after a terrible collision. And it's appropriate. Call out to God. You can pray while you're sitting in solitary confinement in a dangerous prison, any prison on earth. And your prayer will be heard.
You can pray on your bed in the middle of the night. submerged in depression. With thoughts of suicide, and your prayer is heard. Because he neither slumbers nor sleeps. You can pray on a deserted island.
Thousands of miles away from what you would call home. You can pray for finding something to eat. Finding fresh water to drink. Finding shelter from the elements. Encountering some way to be rescued, you pray, you pray, you pray.
It's appropriate. You can pray from a tiny hiding place. with the boots of the soldiers heard nearby. And those prayers are effective. You can pray in a plane.
that's having engine trouble and it's halfway across the ocean. Or perhaps the dark of night flying over a mountainous area, you pray. You pray. You can pray before your oral exam. Having finished your degree work, let's say a PhD.
And you're sitting out there about to face these scholars who will be interviewing you, you pray. I hardly need to tell you that. Prayer is the most natural thing in the world. I have a friend who. took his work in a An area where only Dutch was spoken.
He was an English-speaking person, but all of it was taken in Dutch. And he said written on the walls of the room where he was waiting, just before he was interviewed for that final oral exam. There were these prayers written. in the Dutch language. all around the room.
You pray in an outside office before you were interviewed for a job. You pray anywhere. Anywhere. And our God hears you. I remember uh I was speaking at Moody Bible Institute several years ago.
And we took a little break between the speakers and And while having coffee, a lady walked up with She had just a delightful sense of humor. She was so cheerful and And a middle-aged lady, and as we were talking, she said, You know, when I was a student here, I was single, and I longed to. To be married someday, but I didn't want to marry the wrong man. And she said, I was in the dilemma between really wanting a husband someday, but never wanting the wrong man.
So I realized my only recourse was God. And so I've I wrote out a simple prayer, she said. These are her words. Her prayer was. Father in heaven, hear my prayer and grant it if you can.
I've hung a pair of trousers here. Please fill them with a man. She gave me that prayer. She said, here it is. And I.
Uh I thought it was terrific. Matter of fact, she said it. In a very few years, I met that man, and in ten years' time, we've had eight children. I thought, you really did get married. That's that's terrific.
Well, it was such a great story when I got back to The church I was serving at the time, it was in California. I shared that story. It did not fit the sermon, but you know, preachers, we'll jam it in if it seems. Like a good moment, and I did. Interesting, in the congregation that day.
were a father and a son. In a family of four, the mother and the daughter were missing. Because the daughter was sick that Sunday and the mother was home with her, but the father was there and an older son. in his early twenties and Everybody around me, around the room, was laughing, just like you did. But he didn't.
The son was. Kind of tilted his head, and I just happened to glance at him, and life went on. A week or so later, I got a note. that was sent to me. And it was from the mother.
In this family, she said, I want to know, Truck, if I have something to be concerned about. For the for the last couple of Days Our son has hung a bikini over the foot. The foot of his bed. Uh What's this all about?
So I just say to you, mothers. Prayer is appropriate. There's something a whole lot worse than being unhappily single and that's to be miserably Married. You don't want to rush into that. You certainly don't want it.
act in a passion of the moment. And I will tell you great mates. are rare. Look carefully. Pray hard.
Think. For a long time. Because marriage is made for a lifetime. Another practical insight from our study of Jonah, the reluctant prophet. There's much more application coming from our Bible teacher Chuck Swindahl, so stay with us.
Here at Insight for Living, we provide a number of resources to help you dig deeper into the Bible on your own. First, we have an in-depth workbook on this nine-part series on Jonah. it will definitely prompt some meaningful conversation in your Bible study group. This Searching the Scriptures Bible study for Jonah will allow each member of the group to engage in this dynamic story and its relevance for today. This spiral-bound Bible study workbook contains all nine studies that accompany Chuck's sermons, with plenty of room to take personal notes along the way.
To purchase the Searching the Scriptures Bible study for Jonah, call us at eight hundred seven seven two eighty eight eighty eight, or go to insight dot org slash offer. Second, did you know that Chuck Swindahl offers a daily devotional sent directly to your email address? It's absolutely free. These brief devotional emails from Chuck are among the most popular resources that Insight for Living offers. To subscribe, go to insight.org slash devotional.
Finally, today, we're saying thanks for your financial support by providing a brand new booklet from Chuck. It's called Look Beyond: Will You Focus on Eternity? This booklet features the final sermon Chuck delivered on the weekend of his 90th birthday at the church he founded and loved. Chuck cited the powerful counsel that Paul offered to his young protégé, Timothy, to brace himself for the storms coming, but never lose sight of the rewards of eternity. That's the enduring application in Chuck Swindahl's booklet, Look Beyond.
We'd love to send you a copy today with our thanks for your financial support of Insight for Living. To send a donation in the mail right to us at Insight for Living. Post Office Box 5000. Frisco, Texas 75034. That's Post Office Box 5000.
Frisco, Texas 75034. You can also call us at 800-772-8888 or give online at insight.org/slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindall continues to tell the story of Jonah's About Face. Tuesday on Insight for Living.
The preceding message. Finally, Jonah connects the dots. Was copyrighted in 2018, 2019, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles Arswindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
