But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. Jonah 2:9

 

The voice of thanksgiving, what a great statement! Jonah is in the belly of a whale when he declares his gratitude to God. He has been tangled in seaweed and swimming with the fish, most of which are dead. Not exactly the place you would find thankfulness. But he is responsible for his condition. His rebellion from God has led him to an underwater grave. At least that is what is he thought. He decides to get his heart right before he meets his maker and the best way to do that is to give God thanks. He acknowledged that God had already been better to him than he deserved. God did not have to release him for him to be thankful. His thanks to God was unconditional.

 

His thanks to God was obvious. God heard it and accepted it. Otherwise, we would not have the record of it. Thankfulness is always obvious! All he had to demonstrate his thanks was his voice. It would be a sacrifice to do this? Maybe because he had to open his mouth and take a chance of sea water getting in. Who knows? All we know is that it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

 

His thanksgiving pleased the LORD! It always does, it is the first step of getting back in the will of God. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18). God heard his thanks!

 

Has God heard your thanks? You don’t need anything new to be thankful. You don’t need to feel great to be thankful. As a matter of fact, the worse you feel the more important it is for you to be thankful! Have you thought about all that God has given you that you didn’t deserve? What if God only gave you today what you were thankful for yesterday? How much would you have?

 

Jonah knew he could never be as grateful as God was gracious! But he could lift up his voice with thanksgiving! It is no coincident that the whale vomited Jonah out after he lifts up his voice with thanksgiving. Just as darkness hates light so does whale belly living hate gratitude! If you want to get out of a bad place give God thanks!

 

Next, we find the Word of the LORD came unto him the second time. God not only removed him from his prison but gave him revival! It all started when Jonah got his thinking right! Your thinking will determine your thanking! Everything changed for Jonah when he started Thanking God!

 

Zig Ziglar tells a story of a lady who came to him for counsel. She sat down and complained to him for over an hour about the way people treated her at work. She said she hated her work but couldn’t find another job. Finally, after an hour rant, she paused long enough for Zig to talk. He said do you trust my counsel? She said, yes. He said then I need you to do exactly as I say for a week I believe it’ll help you. She said, OK, what do I have to do? Zig said, Everyday next week I want you to find something about a coworker that you can genuinely compliment and be thankful for. She said, I don’t think I can, Zig said, you can too. Everyone has something to offer the company that is necessary so tell them thanks. So she made herself look for the good in her fellow employees and employer. She told them thank you and gave them honest compliments. The following week she met with Zig to report in. He said well how did it go? She said, I don’t understand it but they’ve all gotten better attitudes.