The View from Inside

...with thanks to Sister Madness, Janine Zabriskie, for the great song suggestion


Jonah 2:1-10

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying,

“I called to the LORD out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.

You cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.

Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
how shall I look again
upon your holy temple?’

The waters closed in over me;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped around my head
at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the Pit,
O LORD my God.

As my life was ebbing away,
I remembered the LORD;
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.

Those who worship vain idols
forsake their true loyalty.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.

Deliverance belongs to the LORD!”
Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

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When I think of heaven
Deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
And all other instruments of faith and sex and God
In the belly of a black-winged bird.
Don't try to feed me
'Cause I've been here before
And I deserve a little more

I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been crying and I've been thinking
And I am the Rain King

"The Rain King" by Counting Crows

The Lord gave Jonah one job, go to Nineveh and tell everyone that their world is about to crash about their ears. Have you ever noticed that the prophets get all of the worst jobs? Let's face it, they do. More often than not, they are told only to share the worst possible news with people who don't want to hear it.

Then again, if the folks who needed the news were obedient to the Lord to begin with, would they really need the reminder?

Jonah decides to buck the trend. He heads off in the other direction, he heads off to sea. Of course, the will of the Lord will not be thwarted. The Lord will be obeyed. A great storm rises and Jonah is below decks taking a nap. He is so satisfied with his decision that he just might figure he has two choices, die in Nineveh while spreading the news or die at sea. Death is death and it seems he decided to meet death on his terms rather than the Lord's.

Well, you know the story, Jonah leaves the ship, the hard way, and ends up in the belly of the fish. There he begins to lament. He sees that it is not the same, dying while doing the Lord's work must be better than the alternative. He ends with crying out "Deliverance belongs to the LORD!" Jonah knows who is to serve and learns it from the belly of the big fish.

Adam Duritz has seen his own pain, and he sees it from the belly of the black-winged bird; flying, diving into a sea of pens and feathers. He knows his own big fish experience. He knows like Jonah knows. He know his God and sees the good works of God's creation and he sees them in the belly of the black-winged bird.

Oddly, they come to the same conclusion. They both know their roles. Adam Duritz sings about the Rain King in service to the Queen. Jonah knows he's the prophet of the Lord. They both come to learn where they belong and who they belong to.

Both of these stories tend to lead to the same questions: Who do you serve? What's your role? The answers to those questions make life worth living.