On Sunday 28th June, Michelle Dorrington brought the second message in our series The Depths of Grace, and she opened with a question that landed immediately: “What’s the darkest place you’ve ever prayed?” A hospital waiting room. A car after an argument. A sleepless night at 2 a.m. Most of us have been there. But Jonah prayed from somewhere darker still – the stomach of a fish. And the greatest surprise in the story, Michelle reminded us, is not the fish. It’s that God meets people who have been running away from him.
Building on last week’s recap – God called, Jonah ran, a storm came, Jonah went overboard – this week focused on what happens next, and more importantly, what we do when we find ourselves completely off track. Michelle shared a vivid memory of getting hopelessly lost in London just after passing her driving test, praying a very urgent and very sincere prayer, and then spotting a road sign pointing back toward Chelmsford and Southend. She wasn’t home yet, but she knew she was heading in the right direction. That image set the tone for the whole sermon: you can get back on track, but it takes prayer, praise, and turning.
Working through Jonah chapter 2, Michelle drew out three movements in Jonah’s response: he prays in the dark, he praises God before anything changes, and he turns back toward obedience. None of it is neat or comfortable, but all of it is real. The fish, she explained, was not punishment – it was protection. God was more interested in changing Jonah than changing Jonah’s circumstances. And the darkest place, as Michelle returned to again and again throughout the morning, can become the place God does his deepest work.
Bible References
- Jonah 1:17
- Jonah 2:1-10
- Psalm 50:14
- Psalm 50:23
- Matthew 12:40
Key Teaching Points
The fish was God’s protection, not punishment
It would be easy to read the fish as a consequence or a judgement, but Michelle challenged that reading directly. Without the fish, Jonah drowns. What felt like imprisonment was actually rescue. God didn’t bypass the process either – Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish, and that time mattered. Spiritual growth often comes not from being pulled out of hard situations, but from going through them.
“Sometimes what feels like punishment is God’s provision. Sometimes what feels like rejection is God’s protection.”
Pray while you’re still in the dark
One of the most striking observations Michelle made was about the timing of Jonah’s prayer. He doesn’t pray after he gets out. He prays while he’s still stuck – the water still around him, the darkness still real, the circumstances completely unchanged. That is the posture of faith. Prayer is not a reward for when things improve; it’s the first step back when things are at their worst. It is, as Michelle put it, giving up the driver’s seat and letting God take the wheel.
“Notice Jonah doesn’t pray after he gets out. He prays while he’s still stuck.”
Faith hangs on one small word: “yet”
In verse 4, Jonah says he has been banished from God’s sight – and then adds a single word that changes everything: “yet.” Michelle slowed right down here, because that word carries so much weight. Anxiety says this is the end. Shame says you’ve ruined everything. But faith says “yet” – yet God is still faithful, yet his mercy is new every morning. When we don’t know what to pray, Michelle encouraged us to pray Scripture. The Psalms are prayers written to God and Jonah himself was doing exactly that in chapter 2.
“Faith often hangs on one word. Anxiety says, ‘This is the end.’ Faith says, ‘Yet God is still faithful.'”
Praise shifts perspective, even before circumstances change
Before the fish spits Jonah out, Jonah praises. He gives thanks with a song. Michelle pointed out that gratitude is a powerful perspective-shifter, and that in moments of anxiety and distress, letting our praise be louder than our fear is both a spiritual practice and – as she noted from pastor and psychotherapist Jo Hargreaves – something that aligns with how we are made. She also offered a gentle but firm challenge about idols: in a crisis we cling to all kinds of things that cannot help us. Only God can fill what Michelle called that “God-shaped space we all have internally.”
Drifting is as serious as running
As the sermon moved toward its close, Michelle widened the focus beyond Jonah. Most of us, she said honestly, are not running from God in dramatic fashion. We are drifting – one compromise, one ignored prompting, one postponed conversation at a time. Nobody wakes up miles from God; they miss one turning at a time. The call back is the same as it was for Jonah: pray, praise, and turn. And the reason we can do that with confidence is that Jesus willingly went into the depths because of our disobedience, spending three days in the tomb so that the whole world could experience God’s mercy.
“Repentance isn’t God saying, ‘Come back when you’ve sorted yourself out.’ Repentance is turning around and discovering God has been pursuing you all along.”
Going Deeper
Take some time this week to reflect on these questions:
- Is there a situation in your life right now that feels like punishment, but could actually be God’s protection or process? What would it look like to trust him in the middle of it rather than waiting for it to end?
- Jonah prayed while the water was still around him. Is there something you have been waiting to bring to God until things feel more settled? What would it look like to pray honestly about it today?
- Where in your life do you need to hold on to that one small word – “yet”? What truth about God can you set alongside the hardest thing you are facing right now?
- Michelle asked some direct questions toward the end of the sermon: What conversation have you been avoiding? What forgiveness have you been withholding? What calling have you been delaying? Sit with whichever one lands most honestly.
- Try the practical suggestion Michelle offered: write down one thing each day this week that you are genuinely grateful for. At the end of the week, notice whether or how your perspective has begun to shift.
If you find yourself in the dark today – whether you’ve been running, drifting, or simply lost – the God who heard Jonah from the belly of a fish still hears people from the depths. Pray, praise, and turn: he has already made a way back.
[Disclaimer: this summary of the message is based on the preacher’s notes or a transcript of the message delivered, and has been produced by AI before being reviewed and edited.]
