Beloved radio, friends, we greet you again in the precious name of our beloved and blessed Savior. We join in the knowledge that we have the privilege, under God, by His Holy Spirit, to bring to you daily the precious study of the Word of God. Our present study in the great prophecy of Jonah, a unique story, unparalleled in the Word of God, we continue to analyze. and pray that it will be a blessing to everyone who listens to the truth. We would now continue our study of the prayer that Jonah made recorded in chapter two of his prophecy. We have particularly emphasized from verses one through verse six, Jonah was calling upon his God. Now it does not take a great amount of thinking. for any of us to realize that there was nothing else that he could do. May I ask the question, if you were in such a circumstance as Jonah, what could you do but call upon God? I guarantee that if there was an atheist in the belly of the great fish, that atheist would have called upon God, even though he had been a fool and denied God. so that he does not take any great amount of consideration to realize that the only thing that Jonah could do was call upon God and thanks be to God he knew that he could turn to God in prayer. My beloved radio friend, can you do that? Do you know God like this? What do you turn to in your troubles? Who do you turn to? Who do I turn to? What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. Oh, because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Now let us know verse two of Jonah's prayer. I cried by reason of mine affliction or my distress, unto the Lord, and He answered me. He heard me, says Jonah, out of the belly of Sheol, cried out, I, and thou heardest my voice. Now Jonah practically confesses himself to be even in the grave, just as good as dead, a doom so deserving, but from which God in mercy delivered him, and answered his cry. And it can be safely assumed, as we read these words, Jonah was now realizing what a terrible thing it had been to run away from the presence of the Lord. I'm sure one thing is certain. When Jonah was praying in the belly of the great fish, he was wishing he had never run away from the Lord. My beloved me, I state again, let us learn a lesson from Jonah. He does not pay to run away from God. He'll catch up with you. Now in the third verse of this second chapter, Jonah continues to reveal the realization of God's chasing hand upon him. Note the words. They are so expressive and very deep in their implication. For thou hast cast me into the deep, even into the midst of the sea, and the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy ways passed over me. Now let me first bring before you this particular fact. Please notice then. Jonah did not say, The sailors cast me into the sea. Jonah says to God, Thou hast cast me into the deep. And Jonah describes being cast into the sea as an act of God himself. He does not accuse the sailors who had taken him up and cast him overboard. You did it, Lord. Jonah knew it. And he knew it to be of the Lord. Now let us remember, Jonah wrote this book after it had all happened. And he recites exactly what it was in his experience. He declares that God was the source of his chastening. And it was God who had cast him into the scene. The sailors had only carried out the punishment that God had designed for his servant. But I want you to think of the vivid words that he spoke. How would you feel being thrown overboard, knowing that in the midst of the mighty ocean and in the depths and billows and waves of the sea you were being cast? Now one thing Jonah didn't know, he didn't know the whale was waiting for him. God had that ready. Jonah didn't know it. And one can well recognize what might have been his feelings as he expresses them in these words. And there is a lesson for you and for me to learn in this, my friend, how we should see the loving hand of God in all the affairs and the changes that come into our lives. Now, I know that's a very strong statement. Do we acknowledge this, particularly if we belong to God? He is the God of circumstances. And particularly we who are God's children should always bow in submissive acknowledgement that God holds the key to all the circumstances. Long ago Job said of God, He performeth the thing that is appointed for me when He passed through the deepest trial of His life. David the Psalmist said, Shall we not receive good as well as evil from the Lord? And well did Jonah say in his prayer to God, All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. They were billows of chastening from God. They were waves of judgment from God. What Jonah confesses is literally this. Lord, you brought me into this chastening experience. and to so confess is to submit to God's ways, and also to be sooner delivered out of the trial. The words of Jonah are literally from Psalm chapter forty-two and verse seven. All thy ways and thy billows are gone over me. Yes, Jonah knew the scriptures and was able to use them properly in the time of trouble. For the comfort of the scriptures have been given to us that we might have hoped And perhaps Jonah also knew the truth of Isaiah forty-three in verse two. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. And what a promise that is. And Jonah in the depths of the ocean, inside the great fish praying, yet he knew that God was with him there. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. My beloved, think of Jonah being in the belly of the great fish, and the Lord in his presence was with him. Where shall I go from thy presence, said the psalmist? And what a joy to realize. God is omnipresent. And even in the deepest, greatest, sorrest, and most tested experiences, the child of God can say, God is with me. Now in verse four of our chapter we find recorded by Jonah. These words, then said I, I'm cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. No, he was not out of God's sight. He undoubtedly felt so, as we've already suggested. He never could be out of God's sight. But in his chastening he felt it to be so. But in faith, now note, In faith he directs his heart toward God, as much as to say, Yet, I will look again toward thy holy temple. Well, he'd been running away from it, but he knew that back in Jerusalem, the temple of God's house, God's dwelling place, was the place to worship God, as well as the place to direct his prayer. And the eyes of the prophet's heart, they look toward being in the temple of God again. I wonder if Jonah remembered words that were spoken by Solomon, the great king. They are found in I Kings chapter eight, verses twenty nine and thirty. When Solomon dedicated the temple, listen to the words that Solomon said to the Lord, when dedicating that temple, that thine eyes may be open toward this house, night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place, and hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of the people of Israel, when they shall pray toward this place and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place and when thou hearest forgive let me repeat let me emphasize those words of Jonah when he said I'm cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy holy temple Solomon even asked God to hear the prayers and the supplications of his people, Israel, in any kind of circumstance when they spread forth their hands toward this place. I think of Daniel. Have you not read in the book of Daniel that three times a day Daniel opened his windows and prayed? toward the direction of Jerusalem, where he knew the temple and the house of God was the place there was to be God's dwelling place on the earth. So Jonah directed the eyes of his faith and his heart of prayer toward God's holy temple. Now my fellow believer, thank God wherever you and I may be, Whatever may be our situation, we do not have an earthly temple to direct our prayer to. But we can direct our heart and our eyes and our prayer to the throne of grace in heaven above, where our Savior is. And we can reach by faith the dwelling place of God with all our positions, whatever they may be. Well, did Paul write, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The place where the believer turns, and may I say my sinner friend, the place to which you must turn is the place in heaven above where Christ is seated at the right end of God. And if you'll pray that sinner's prayer, God be merciful to me, the sinner, and save me, and mean it, he'll do it. Father, we pray thy blessing upon thy word in the Saviour's name and for his glory. Amen.