I was in my office Wednesday morning, trying to wrap up preparations for Sunday before leaving to spend Thanksgiving with my family. While finishing this Sunday’s message on Jonah, my attention was drawn, in light of the coming holiday, to the end of chapter 2.
Chapter 1 contains the exciting account of Jonah disobeying God, running from his calling, and being cast overboard to be swallowed by a large sea creature. In the last verse of chapter 2, the creature spits him out on dry land, and chapter 3 shows Jonah preaching in Nineveh. Finally, chapter 4 sees Jonah being put in his place for arguing with God, Whom he thought was too gracious to the Ninevites. We are so focused on the action in the narrative that we often overlook the majority of chapter 2—Jonah’s prayer. But the prayer represents a major turning point in the life of the reluctant prophet, where he recognizes his duty to God. He ends his prayer this way:
Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.
Jonah 2:8-9, NASB
In this prayer, Jonah has recognized that God is far more gracious to him than he deserves, and is powerful enough to pull him up from the greatest depth.
He remarks on the foolishness of serving idols, powerless imaginary gods, when doing so distracts us from our duty to the true God. When we recognize who God is and what He has done for us, the only reasonable response is to give Him thanks in every way we can. For Jonah, giving thanks to God for His goodness is not just a matter of words but of obedience (in his case, sacrifices and fulfilling his promises to God).1
The apostle Paul taught us to give thanks in every circumstance.2 Early believers were skilled at following his instruction, with just one example from Justin Martyr reflecting on how we owe God thanks for being, for creating us, for sustaining our existence, for meeting our needs, and for hearing our petitions.3
If we stop and consider all He has done for us—not to mention Who He is—we will never exhaust our reasons to be thankful. May God make us a thankful people every day, and may we learn to show our thankfulness to Him through obedience.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.