There's an old story about a little girl talking with her grouchy uncle about whales. The uncle insisted it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a person. Their throats are just too small.

"Jonah was swallowed by a whale," the girl said.

Irritated, the uncle repeated himself. Physically impossible.

"Well," she said, "when I get to heaven, I'll ask Jonah."

"And what if Jonah didn't go to heaven?" the uncle said. "What if he went the other direction?"

"Then you ask him!"

It's a funny story. But the point of Jonah isn't what kind of fish it was, or how it all happened.

Here's something easy to miss. The fish wasn't the punishment. It was the rescue. Jonah was sinking. The water was closing over him, seaweed wrapped around his head. And that's when God sent the fish.

From inside it, Jonah prayed. And his prayer sounds a lot like one of the psalms. Psalm 130 begins, "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord." And it ends with this: "O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem." (Psalm 130:1, 7)

That's the promise. Not that God will give us every desire of our heart. No. But when things seem hopeless, when everything is falling apart, when there's no way forward, God has great power to redeem.

Wherever you are today, even if it feels like the belly of the fish, may you remember: you are not beyond the reach of that power.

Prayer: God of our salvation, you rescued your people from slavery. You brought water from a rock. You raised Jesus from the dead. Our messes don't get the last word. Sin and heartache and despair don't get the last word. You do. Bring good out of what is broken, beauty out of what is horrible, light out of the dark. We turn our problems, our worries, and our lives over to you again this day. We hope in you, through Jesus Christ. Amen.