Jonah 2
You Heard My Cry (I'm Worshiping You)
© Song by Xander Stok, Project of Love.
March 28, 2025.
Jonah 2 - You Heard My Cry (I'm Worshiping You)
1. “In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.
2. He answered me.
From the belly of the grave I cried,
You heard my cry.
3. You threw me into ocean’s depths,
into a watery grave,
With ocean waves,
crashing over me.
4. I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away,
thrown out, out of your sight.
I’ll never again lay eyes
on your Holy Temple.’
5. Ocean gripped me by the throat.
The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.
My head was all tangled in seaweed
6. at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.
I was as far down as a body can go,
and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever
Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive,
O God, my God!
7. When my life was slipping away,
I remembered You,
And my prayer got through to you,
made it all the way to your Holy Temple.
8. Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds,
walk away from their only true love.
9. But I’m worshiping you, God,
calling out in thanksgiving!
And I’ll do what I promised I’d do!
Salvation belongs to God!
Salvation belongs to You!”
The Message Translation (MSG)
Italics verse 7 & 9 by author: You orig God
This has got to be one of the greatest worship songs ever. And I'm not talking about my song (although it's one of my personal favorites), but about what Jonah is saying and demonstrating here.
It boggles the mind.
Just imagine for a moment... You're inside a giant fish. You're in utter, complete darkness. Cold water all around you, seaweed and dead things around your ankles... You're surrounded by otherworldly sounds, like heavy groaning. Who knows how deep you are under the surface? And you've got no idea if you'll ever come out of this alive. To top it all off, the digestive fluids are starting to slowly digest you...
What would you do?
I can tell you what Jonah did. Jonah started with a deeply felt "Help!" but then his cry transformed into a worship song, an actual praise song! INSIDE the belly of the beast, IN darkness, not knowing if he was ever going to see the light of day.
You can say what you like about Jonah, but what he's showing here is extraordinary. This man knew his God. He knew God was good; no, read that: GOOD. That's why he didn't want to go to Nineveh. He already knew what God was going to do: He was going to forgive them.
Now, this song resonates deeply with me. What Jonah describes here has been most of my life. It's my testimony in a nutshell.
I have struggled with crippling depression for probably more than 25 years of my life. It made me look for 'God' in all the wrong places. Each time, I was worse off than the last time. I worshiped 'hollow gods, god-frauds,' as Jonah puts it. Until about six years ago, I cried for help in the belly of the beast. And God heard my cry. Like Jonah, the darkness spat me out. Quite literally. I've been living in the Light ever since. Never looked back.
When you're in darkness now, take an advance on God's goodness. Yes, cry for help, but start praising Him also. Because He is going to get you out of it! You know why?
1 Thessalonians 5:5 says, "For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night."
A good start would be to start singing this song. It's like a proclamation. This could be your testimony too! He did it for Jonah, He did it for me, and He will do it for you. ❤️
P.S. A lot of the OT poetry was lost in translation. But this translation of The Message gives an amazing rendering of that ancient text/poetry. I read several translations, but I personally believe The Message should not be missing from your collection..
