When Jonah was tossed overboard into the sea and swallowed up by a great fish,

it seemed like the end of the story. Maybe Jonah had finally found a way to hide from God.

Instead, as we'll hear today on Truth For Life Weekend, God used the fish's belly,

turned it into a prayer room.

Alistair Begg is teaching from the second chapter of the book of Jonah.

Father, as we prepare now to hear you speak to us through your Word, the Bible, we pray

that you will grant to us freedom from every distraction, attentive hearts and minds,

that you will take those of us who are wandering and wandering and draw us into your fold.

Those of us who are rebelling and running and seeking to hide and arrest us, that none

of us may be spectators to the event, but that all of us, in a way that we do not fully

even understand, may hear your voice. And to this end, we seek you in Christ's name. Amen.

So far, we've learned that God came to Jonah and said, go, and Jonah said to God, no.

As a result of his running and seeking to hide, he found himself in the midst of a violent

storm. Although it was complete panic upon deck, Jonah himself was asleep below. He had

to be awakened by the captain of the ship who inquired of him as to how he could sleep

in such circumstances. And in the ensuing conversation, Jonah confessed that he had actually

been running away from God, and the reason that the storm was as violent as it proved

to be was an account of this fact. And therefore, that what the sailors needed to do was throw

him overboard, and he was pretty certain that the sea would then become calm, and that

they would be able to proceed with their voyage. And so they did just that. They threw

him overboard, and we're told that in the midst of that calamity, God provided a great fish

to swallow Jonah, and that was to be Jonah's dwelling place for the next little while.

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