My Soul Fainted Within Me

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 29th December service and hymns are below.

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Our principal verses are:

Jon 2:7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

Jon 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Jon 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

Jon 2:10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

 My Soul Fainted Within Me

Jonah’s experience, in the belly of the fish, was documented for the benefit and instruction of the after-church of Jesus Christ. The prophet recorded how he felt, thought and cried in the throes of his affliction and how the Lord heard him. Jonah also reveals ‘my soul fainted within me’. This is strange language to the ears of many of us. What does it mean when a man’s soul faints within him? Would you know what to do if it happened to you?

Faint

The Bible words rendered ‘faint’ or ‘fainted’ have physical and metaphorical meanings. Physically it can be used for exhaustion or weariness from over-exertion or lack of food and water. Figuratively it can mean depression or despondency brought on by deep loss or sadness. Spiritually it applies to remorse for sin, sorrow in guilt and the fear of just deserts. It is a discouragement of heart that drains and exhausts the soul when judgment and fear grip our mind.

Subdued

In the belly of the fish Jonah is convicted and subdued by the Lord when faced with his sinful rebellion. He has no more strength to resist nor will to run. He has been halted in his flight from the face of God, overcome with guilt at his foolishness and shamed with his attitude and ingratitude towards God. Then, when it seemed Jonah’s exhausted soul might fall, never again to rise, the prophet remembered God’s power and goodness.

Jonah’s faith

We are again reminded Jonah had faith in Christ. As an Old Testament believer he looked to God’s covenant promises to Abraham and David. He saw the Messiah by faith in the types and symbols of mercy delivered to the ancient Jews under Moses. Jonah knew the gospel promises of grace and here in this critical moment of soul-distress he ‘remembered the Lord’. When troubles seem to shut out hope God grants repentance and faith revives. Remembering the Lord is remembering His works of mercy and His promises in Christ.

Confession

Jonah’s soul was revived by this recollection and his prayer is a petition for forgiveness, an appeal for deliverance and an offering of thanksgiving. It sped from the whale’s belly to the throne of grace. God in heaven heard it because it was tendered with an eye to Christ’s sacrifice and death, bound up in the typology of the temple. Jonah had personally ‘observed lying vanities’. He was the man who had rejected God by giving place to the urges of carnal sense and reason. This was Jonah’s acknowledgment of sin and prayer for forgiveness.

Serving with gratitude

It was also an appeal characterised by faith and attended with a pledge of re-dedication. Jonah promised ‘I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed’. Jonah’s offering was ‘a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God’ and well-pleasing in His sight because Jonah looked to the precious blood of God’s own Son. Perhaps Jonah foresaw an opportunity to bring an offering again at the temple and vowed to do so should he be enabled. Perhaps it is his willingness to go now to Nineveh. 

Salvation’s source

Jonah’s simple declaration ‘Salvation is of the LORD’ is both a statement of confidence and a testimony of experience. It has adorned many sermons and encapsulates the gospel of God’s grace. The form of the word used for salvation is expansive and incorporates every kind of salvation and deliverance. Jonah affirmed the gracious source of all salvation. Whether we think of Jonah’s physical location in the great fish, or more broadly deliverance from the trials of life, the snares of sin, or our eternal redemption, the statement holds good. ‘Salvation is of the LORD’.

On solid ground

No sooner had the humbled prophet made his confession than the Lord spoke to the fish and instructed it to spew Jonah onto dry land. The location is not specified and not important. Jonah had been heard and God answered. For three days and three nights Jonah typified death in the belly of the whale and signified the death and burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whale could hold Jonah no longer than God allowed. Nor could death and the grave hold our Saviour.

A lasting sign

This astonishing miracle of Jonah’s deliverance from the belly of the whale signalled our Saviour’s own detention in the heart of the earth for the salvation of His people. It has strengthened faith and encouraged fainting souls ever since. Jonah’s history reveals the wonderful mystery of Jesus Christ’s incarnation and humiliation for us. To paraphrase Robert Hawker in verse:

When for us and our salvation,
Thou didst condescend to lay,
In the grave until the morning,
Of Thy resurrection day.

Amen

Our hymns are below.

Hymn 1

Gadsby selection 1054

“To all them that looked for redemption.” Luke 2. 38

C. Wesley   8.7.

1
Come, thou long-expected Jesus!
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the saints thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

2
Born thy children to deliver,
Born a child and yet a king;
Born to reign in us for ever,
Now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thy own eternal Spirit,
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By thy all-sufficient merit,
Raise us to thy glorious throne.

Hymn 2

Gadsby selection 913

The Gospel Glad Tidings to Sinners. Heb. 7. 25

J. Kent                 8.7.

1
’Tis the gospel’s joyful tidings,
Full salvation sweetly sounds;
Grace to heal thy foul backslidings,
Sinner, flows from Jesus’ wounds.

2
Are thy sins beyond recounting,
Like the sand the ocean laves?
Jesus is of life the fountain;
He unto the utmost saves.

3
Hail the Lamb who came to save us;
Hail the love that made him die!
’Tis the gift that God has given us;
We’ll proclaim his honours high.

4
When we join the general chorus
Of the royal blood-bought throng,
Who to glory went before us,
Saved from every tribe and tongue,

5
Then we’ll make the blissful regions
Echo to our Saviour’s praise;
While the bright angelic legions
Listen to the charming lays.

When Jonah was in the belly of the fish he prayed and was heard by God. He confessed his sin, asked for deliverance and thanked God for his salvation. He declared 'Salvation is of the Lord'. This is the testimony of all who are delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ from their sins.