Jonah Chapter 2

I taught a Sunday School lesson on the second chapter of Jonah yesterday and two things stood out to me from the chapter: Jonah acknowledged God's sovereignty and Jonah prayed Psalms to God. Jonah acknowledged that God had put him in this situation in verse -"you hurled me into the deep". Even though the sailors had thrown him overboard, Jonah seemed to understand that God had used the sailors perform his will. I do not see that Jonah was blaming God for his predicament as Adam did in Genesis 3:12. When God confronted Adam for eating the forbidden fruit Adam said that the woman God gave him gave him the fruit. Both men directly disobeyed God's command for them but Adam made excuses and blamed others while Jonah seemed to accept God's control and ask for deliverance.
The second thing that stood out to me was Jonah's use of the Psalms in his prayer. Almost every verse of his prayer is from the Psalms. When God's children are in very difficult circumstances the best thing to do is to cry out using God's word. Many Psalms were written by men in desperate circumstances and their words should speak well for many situations. I do not know what would go through my mind if I were thrown into the sea and swallowed by a fish, I hope that some part of God's word would come to mind. I know that if someone has no familiarity with God's word they will have a difficult time recalling some portion of scripture that would speak to their situation.
It is important to remember that God is sovereign and no one cannot get so far off track that they are outside of his control and protection. I also think that everyone needs to read and study God's word, so that when they are faced with a difficult situation they have something to speak to their situation.