Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish: 

I called to the Lord in my distress, 

and he answered me. 

I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; 

you heard my voice.

Jonah 2:1-2 CSB

I was taught Jonah's story as a children's story, and that's not really very helpful. No one in Sunday School said that Jonah thought he was dead, in the land of the dead, or even in distress at all. 

Yet he was. 

And the opportunity is for us to relate to Jonah and do what he did:

Cry out to God.

And this story tells us that our God hears. 

Jonah ran from God, did his best to put as much distance as he could. He then ended up insulated inside the fish at the bottom of the ocean, discarded and alone. That's the picture we're supposed to get. 

No matter how disconnected we might feel, how far away we (think we) are, how horrible our circumstances are, how isolated or insulated from God, He hears our cry. 

Paul talks of this at the end of Romans 8, that NOTHING can separate us from God's love.

Nothing can separate us from the God who hears, who knows you, 

who loves you. 

#jonah

#dearlyloved

#nothingcanseparateyoufromGodslove