Jonah 2:1-9

There’s a lot we can learn about prayer from Jonah:

It’s ok to cry out to the Lord in distress (2).

If you’re like me, you’ve heard a million times that our praying shouldn’t be relegated only to crying out to the Lord in distress.  You’ve probably also heard verses like James 1:2, which might make you think that when tough times come our way, God wants us to just grin and bear it.

It’s true that we need to maintain a healthy, balanced prayer life by spending time with God every day.  One of the benefits of doing so is that we won’t find ourselves in Jonah’s shoes nearly as often, because we’ll be more in tune with the Spirit’s leading, and more apt to be obedient.

But when those tough times come, whether of our own making, or not, God wants us to cry out…