Day 10: January 14, 2026

Praise In The Pit

Devotional: 

“Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish: I called to the Lord in my distress, and He answered me. I cried out for help in the belly of Sheol; You heard my voice.

9 but as for me, I will sacrifice to You with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the Lord!”

Jonah 2:1-2, 9 (HCSB)

The Lord spoke to the prophet Jonah and instructed him to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Instead of obeying, Jonah ran from the Lord (Jonah 1:3). His disobedience led him into a storm, and later into the belly of a great fish prepared by God.

Jonah spent three days in darkness. In his prayer, he describes the terror of that place. Water was closing in around him, seaweed wrapped around his head, and his life was slipping away. He was trapped, helpless, and facing the consequences of his own choices. Yet it was there, in the pit, that Jonah prayed. When he reached the end of himself, he remembered the Lord, and God heard him.

In the middle of pain, isolation, and punishment, Jonah declared something that changes everything. “Salvation comes from the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). He praised God before he was delivered. He worshiped before the fish released him. He acknowledged God’s sovereignty while still inside the pit. This is the power of praise. He didn’t just praise God after the breakthrough, but he praised in the middle of the pain.

There are seasons in life when we feel like Jonah, choked by grief, overwhelmed by consequences, and trapped in situations we don’t fully understand. Sometimes the pit is the result of our own decisions. Regardless of how we got there, the pit has a way of dampening hope and draining strength

Reflect

Where am I currently in pain, waiting, or discomfort? How can I choose to praise God there instead of after it passes?

One Step Forward

Write one sentence of praise today that begins with:

“Even here, God, I trust You because…” Speak it aloud as an act of faith.