Fish Belly Prayer

Daily Worship

Laura Digan

October 24, 2023

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Jonah 2 (NRSVA)

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

‘I called to the Lord out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    and you heard my voice.
3 You cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
    passed over me.
4 Then I said, “I am driven away
    from your sight;
how shall I look again
    upon your holy temple?”
5 The waters closed in over me;
    the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped around my head
6     at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
    whose bars closed upon me for ever;
yet you brought up my life from the Pit,
    O Lord my God.
7 As my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to you,
    into your holy temple.
8 Those who worship vain idols
    forsake their true loyalty.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
    Deliverance belongs to the Lord!’

10 Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

I wonder when it was that Jonah finally accepted the Lord’s words and trusted fully in him. He was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. When did he realise it was God who saved him by way of the fish. Now we can think that being in the fish must have been terrifying – but it was the fish who saved him from drowning. After all his fighting and running from the Lord and his fear as the waves engulfed him and his terror as the sea choked his breath as he sunk to the ocean floor. Jonah was safe. Sometimes God has to answer our prayers partially. The belly of a fish might not seem like the ideal answer to prayer but it was a place of safety, a place of comfort even.

It is in this time within the fish that allows Jonah the opportunity to sit and fully engage with the heart of God.

I’d like you to do something for me. Close your eyes for me. And imagine you are in the belly of the whale.

It is dark.

It smells.

But it is warm.

You can hear the sea storming outside but you are protected, you are safe.

You can hear the beating heart of the whale.

It is calming, it is soothing,

it is like being back in your mother’s womb.

You are in the heart of creation.

God’s creation.

Give thanks to God for his protection

For the partial answers to your prayers

It might not be where you want to be, it might not smell good.

But you are safe.