Jon 2:2 And he said: “I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice”
It’s tough to have your freedom taken away, it results in small or big limitations. Jonah disobeyed God by refusing to go and preach in Ninevah, he went a different direction. While sailing to Tarshish, the Lord sent a storm and before long, Jonah was thrown to the bottom of the sea. God’s aim was not to kill him but to show him who God is. The sea could have killed him but the “…the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights”, (Jon 1:17). What a way to humble a man, swallowed by what man eats, fish. His freedom taken away, his pride crushed, his sense of ability limited and all he was left with was to focus on the One he was running away from.
He ran away because he thought he had it together, but with situations unbearable, he called on God. Why did he not call on God when the storm was strong, or when they threw him into the sea or the 1st or 2nd day in the belly of the fish? Because of stubbornness. By nature we want to be in control and try and fix our lives until we run to a dead end. Jonah says, “I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction”. Many of the afflictions either draws you close or pushes you away. Jonah in humility chose to cry to the Lord in the midst of yuck (the belly of a fish) and God heard him and out of the belly of the fish did Jonah come forth.