The Prayer

Have you ever had a dog run away

Run Away Dog Video

I love that news story, because you have this dog that ran away and its gone for 7 years.

And the family as probably assumed the dog is a lost cause, but whats amazing is the dog makes its way home.

And I wanted to use this as a little bit of an introduction because sometimes we are like this dog in our relationship with God we can run as far as we can from him and maybe even run the majority of our life, but its never too late to come home.

because if you were with us last week we started this new sermon series called “Jonah”

And Jonah was a person that God called to go to this city that was considered just extreamly evil called Nineveh.

And instead of going we see Jonah actually get in a boat and head in the opposite direction really we see him attempting to literally run away from the presence of God.

but what happens is we see a huge storm come that is literally ripping apart the boat

And long story short is everyone on the boat decides to throw Jonah off the boat into the water to calm the storm.

and where we left off Jonah was in the ocean and and something really interesting happens because in Jonah 1:17 it say this

Jonah 1:17 NIV

17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

So Jonah’s day gets a lot worse doesn’t it?

because I think a lot of times when we think of this story we kind of picture something like this picture from Pinochio

I mean yeah he got swallowed by some sort of fish, but look at the set up, because he has room for activities, he has a little desk to get work done, theres some light.

But heres the thing I think I have watched just enough shark week to know thats probably not how it was for Jonah.

In fact scholars have said that this experience would have been unimaginable

because we do not know what type of fish swallowed him, but it was likely he badly cut from the fishes teeth,

then the stomach would have been so tight he would have been unable to move,

his skin would be getting bleached from the fish's stomach acid

the oxygen in the fish would have been just high enough to keep Jonah alive

The pressure from being underwater would have been crushing him

There would have been a seaweed wrapping around him

And out of this Jonah prays this prayer in Jonah 2:1-9 It says this:

Jonah 2 NIV

1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. 9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ” 10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

So you can see from Jonah’s prayer his situation is pretty rough in fact he gets to the point in verse 4 where he says: “I have been banished from your sight”

Isn’t it interesting that last week we saw that Jonah was running from the presence of God and then this week he goes it feels like I have gotten there and man is it not what I thought.

and Jonah gets to this place where he feels like God is so far off.

And I have to say this because when life goes sideways it can be the hardest place to feel the presence of God.

I mean think about when you are sick, you usually do not go, “wow I just feel like praising God”

No because you are worn down

But something amazing is even in the middle of Jonah feeling far from God, God is still working.

Because God has sent this fish to swallow Jonah, which at first glance seems a little harsh, but if it did not Jonah would have quickly drowned in the ocean.

And so while its not great place, it is a place where God is still moving.

And really in our lives there are tough places that we find ourselves in, sometimes its because of our choices other times its because of just life

But heres the thing because when life goes wrong it feels like we get a little barried. (illustration with action figure)

And as things happen its another scoop of sand and then another and then another, but here in the thing for me its really easy to pull the person out of the sand.

And really Jonah is barried but God can and will still move even in a place where we feel barried alive.

But look what Jonah does, because he has an option to say I want to run further away or I want to run as fast as I can back to you.

because instead of Jonah running he begins to say “In my distress I called to the lord”; “From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help” ; I will look again at your holy temple

And so we see Jonah not running away but running toward God.

Because in verse 9 Jonah says what I have vowed I will make good.

Basically I am going to do what you have told me to do.

But the issue is that this repentance is very short lived.

because he is crying out of repentance, but we see him change his mind later.

And I think the reason for this is that his repentance is not a change of mind or heart but a desire to change the situation.

And this is so relevant, because a lot of people come to God or maybe go deeper in their walk with God because of a tough situation.

and that is amazing, but so often our thought process is I have been swallowed by a fish or I am out of money, or I have this health issue.

And we say wow I need to turn to God. And if thats you God can 100% use the moments of crisis to draw us closer to Him

But the issue is when our mind or heart does not shift to a place where we genuinly are learning about God and want to know Him more.

Because this is a little bit of a spoiler for a few weeks from now, but Jonah ends up in a simaler place as he is in thebegining of the story

not as bad, but his heart is in a bad place.

And really if we do not fix the core issue we will just find ourselves back in a simaler place as before.

Its kind of like a few weeks ago I had a slow leak in my tire.

And I went to discount tire and they looked at the tire and determined the hole was in a place in the tire where they could seal it but there was a good chance that the hole would just keep popping up and potentially come back worse or make it where the tire would eventually pop and become dangerous.

And so he gave me the other option which was buying new tires.

Have you ever bought new tires? They are expensive!

But they are worth it to keep the family safe right?

and really in our lives when we call out to God in the crisis we are just patching ourselves up.

And a patch is good,

The moments we draw closer to God are good,

And whats intersting is God is still faithful to Jonah even when Jonah is not faithful to God.

In fact in the last verse (verse 10) after Jonah finishes this prayer it says this:

Jonah 2:10 (NIV)

10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Don’t you love that language?

Are you ready for lunch?

But the fish vomits Jonah back on solid ground and really gives Jonah another chance.

And its important to note that other then seek out God, Jonah really had nothing to do with getting out of the fish.

I mean he did not make a plan to punch the fish until it vomited him

He did not go let make it sneeze somehow or tickle it.

But it was from him turning to God.

And here is what I want you to get because there are situations in our life were they are hard.

I mean can everyone say “yes! I have been in a tough situation before, but the amazing thing is that when we are in those places where it seems like there is no way out it forces us to trust God in ways that we have never before.

And so as we close we are going to finish up by recieving communion and I know we recieved it last week

But there is something amazing about this reminder that we can run like Jonah, we can come to God in the moments of crisis over and over again, we do something unimaginable, but God still is pursuing us and desires to be in a relationship with us.

And one way we remember this is through the last supper that he has with his disciple.

And one person that always sticks out to me is Judas, because we all know this that Judas is the reason Jesus dies on the cross right?

But whats interesting is Jesus extends this meal to every person and he even gives it to Judus.

And if you know who Judas is you probably know after he betrays Jesus he goes and takes his life because he is so torn up.

And I always wonder what would Jesus have said to Judas if he did not take his life?

And I really believe Jesus would have said this is my body, this is my blood shed for you.

No exeptions.

But you have to decide do you want to accept it, or push it away.

And so as we close maybe your on the run, maybe you just keep patching yourself up, what would it look like to say yes.

Because you can run, but God is pursuring you lik a loving father running after His child.

Lets pray.