Jonah made a mess of his life.  Instead of trusting the wisdom of God and obeying His Word, he ran from God.  His self-righteousness only served to land him in a Sheol-like place inside the belly of a great fish (Jonah 1:1-17).  On the positive side, Jonah did not lose faith in God.  At a time when most people would count all things lost, Jonah prayed for deliverance.

\Jonah 2:1-2 (ESV)
¹  Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, ²  saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

The cries of Jonah began almost immediately after he was thrown overboard by the crew of the ship.  He knew that, while it was his suggestion to the crew to do so (1:12), and while it was the hands of those men that cast him into the sea, it was all arranged by God, punishing him for his disobedience.

Jonah 2:3-4 (ESV)
³  For 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; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’

Amid the depths of the sea, Jonah was repenting.  Notice the faith he had that God would answer his prayer.  His language is ambiguous enough to make it hard to determine exactly where he was when he said he would look up God’s holy temple again.  Some believe he was still in the sea; others, that the great fish had already swallowed him, but regardless, his confidence in God at a time like that is astonishing.  Even as the waters were closing over him and he was wrapped in seaweed, he prayed (ver. 5).  His very life was fainting away; yet, he remembered the Lord (ver. 7).  He even realized that the great fish that God sent to swallow him was a means of rescue, saving him from the drowning water, and he was thankful, vowing to sacrifice to God the next opportunity that he had (ver. 9).  His faith impressed God, and He gave Jonah a second chance.

Jonah 2:10 (ESV)
¹⁰  And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

We serve a gracious God!  Jonah did not deserve a second chance, but the steadfast love of God endures forever (Psalms 118:1-4).  All God wants is to be respected and obeyed.  As Solomon said, “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).  If we are willing to do that, we will find favor with God.  And, even when we fall short, we only need to repent and ask for forgiveness, and He is merciful enough to do so.  John said,  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

If God is willing to forgive one so defiant as Jonah, He will also forgive us.  If you disobey God, no matter what the sin is, or how long you have been in a state of defiance, confess it and pray to God for forgiveness (Acts 8:22), and, if you are one of His, the blood of Christ will cleanse you.  If the story of Jonah does not teach us anything else, it teaches us that God forgives.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.