Jonah: Hiding from God

Scripture/Introduction

Jonah 1:1–10 NIV

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.” Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

Pray.

Intro.

Fishing: I love to catch fish

Set it up:

Jonah is a prophet, which is a job in the Old Testament, the first 2/3 of our Bible before Jesus shows up on the scene, where people speak on behalf of God about a number of different things. They tell people when they’re doing things right and acting faithfully, but a lot more often they have to tell folks when they are doing wrong and when they need to repent or turn away from behaviors or beliefs.Being a prophet was not necessarily a fun job, most of the time. People were mad at you a lot.

Taylor Swift dating Travis Kelce…outrage about how much she was on camera and people talking about them.

Prophets had it pretty rough, but at the same time, that’s what they expected. Your name was known by a lot of people, and you had to choose to be faithful to the work. But Jonah isn’t.

Basically, God tells Jonah to

Jonah 1:2 NIV

“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

the book gives nothing but silence from Jonah. He doesn’t debate with God. He just gets up and goes in the complete and total opposite direction. I think a lot of us as modern people would actually deeply appreciate a clear and concise word from God about what we should do with our lives, and it’s pretty easy to scoff at Jonah. The hard truth is we all have Ninevahs.

We all have Ninevahs

someone we avoid

someone we know we are supposed to forgive

Huge problems

By the way…. And Jonah had pretty legit reasons for disliking Ninevah, even hating them. Horrible things happened between the people of Israel, Jonah’s people, and the people of Assyria, which Ninevah was the capital of. People died. Violence occurred. And for the most part, the people of Assyria were the perpetrators. Most of Jonah’s friends and family wouldn’t judge him in the slightest for running, just like most people who know us wouldn’t really judge us for having our own enemies, because we all have them. But those of us who choose to worship the God that shows up in this story of Jonah don’t get to have the luxury of enemies, I hate to tell you.

Do we love the God who loves all? Jonah is a prophet. He expects instructions from God to “Go and tell...” That’s the whole prophet-deal. But he likes catching fish, not fishing. He loves God’s grace when it’s doing something for him. But he doesn’t love God the compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love God that shows up in the proclamation to go to Jonah’s worst enemies.

So he ran. He ran in the literal opposite direction– he went southwest when he was supposed to be going northeast. He got on a ship, and things start to go wrong from there. A big wind blows, these sailors on the ship are trying desperately to figure out what to do, and it turns out that Jonah is the reason the sea is so horrible. But Jonah is doing nothing about it – he's in the bottom of the ship ASLEEP while all these folks are praying and working. Even when they find that out, they still try to force the boat onto shore. They want to save Jonah if possible. This is really where we see the depth of Jonah’s rebellion, because he isn’t just trying to get away from a job assignment. He’s trying to escape the actual presence of God. It says multiple times in this book that he is trying to “flee from the presence of the Lord.”

First he tries the physical escape of getting onto a ship,

then he attempts a mental escapeof sleeping in the bottom of the boat,

Types of escaping:

physical avoidance

mental coping

netflix

phone scrolls

or worse things

and when the sailors realize that he is the problem here, Jonah finally says “Throw me overboard!” Now this could be a very nice, self-sacrificing act, but no other part of this story tells us that’s the kind of person Jonah is. It’s more likely that he would rather take his chance in the ocean than have to do what God has asked him to do, so even this proclamation of throwing him into the sea is an escape attempt.

The Consequences of Avoidance

Jonah’s attempt to flee led him onto a ship headed for Tarshish. But God sent a great storm, threatening the lives of everyone on board. The sailors, recognizing that the storm was supernatural, cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. He confessed that he was running from the Lord, and at his request, they threw him into the sea to calm the storm.

In Jonah 1:17,

Jonah 1:17 NIV

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

Jonah’s disobedience didn’t just affect him; it endangered others around him. Our attempts to avoid God’s will can have ripple effects, impacting those we love and care about. However, even in Jonah's darkest moment, inside the belly of the fish, God was with him. This teaches us that no matter how far we run, God’s presence is inescapable, and His mercy is always available.

Repentance and Restoration

In Jonah 2, we find Jonah's prayer from inside the fish. He acknowledges his distress and calls out to the Lord. Jonah 2:2 says,

Jonah 2:2 NIV

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.

Jonah’s prayer is a powerful reminder that God hears us even in our lowest moments. When we repent and turn back to Him, He is faithful to restore us. After Jonah’s prayer, the Lord commanded the fish to spit Jonah onto dry land, giving him another chance to fulfill his mission.

Fulfilling God’s Mission

This time, Jonah obeyed. He went to Nineveh and delivered God's message. The people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth as a sign of their repentance. Because of their response, God relented from bringing destruction upon them.

Jonah 3:10 says,

Jonah 3:10 NIV

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

God’s desire is not to punish but to redeem. When we obey His call, not only are we blessed, but others are given the opportunity to experience His mercy and grace.

Closing:

Zach and Kendra: The clearest view of Jesus I have ever known.