Jonah 2a

Turn to Jonah 1:17. In the TaNaKh, what we call the Hebrew Bible it’s chapter 2:1. Why do we have it in chapter 1 - IDK? Two questions as we begin.

1) How do you interpret or navigate God’s absence or silence?

If we walk with Jesus long enough, we will experience moments or seasons when He seems absent and silent. “God, where are you! I’m praying. I’m asking for wisdom. I need help!” Nothing.

2) How do you navigate those moments when you are confronted with your false self?

If we walk with Jesus long enough, He will confront our false selves, our façades and the lies we believe. He does that to expose our true selves – the Imago Dei – who we were designed to be.

How do you navigate those two questions? Hang onto that.

Last week, we saw that Jonah became an agent of chaos. This prophet of God, one of the good guys, flipped and chose the wrong path, fought against God and created chaos for himself and for others. And eventually God confronted Jonah - exposed the false self. See, God loved Jonah too much to let him get away with sin, rebellion, and a false identity. So, God used a storm, the casting of lots and these pagan sailors to call him out. So, Jonah was forced to come face to face with the reality of who he was – the good and bad. Not only that, but Jonah was also confronted with the reality of the Living God of the universe. He saw firsthand God’s power and sovereignty over nature. He saw God’s omnipresence – can’t hide from God.

See,

“Storms [can] reveal the lies we believe” ~ Susie Larson.

– lies we believe about God, life, about others, and ourselves. Jonah believed he could run away and disobey God without consequence. Believed he could fight God and win. The sailors believed their lesser gods could rescue them.

The storm confronted Jonah’s false identity.

The storm confronted the sailors’ false spirituality.

Ironically, the pagan sailors responded to the truth that was revealed about Yahweh and committed their lives to Him. Jonah, however, responded to the truth of who he was, but rather than turning to God, he came up with a hairbrained idea – “Toss me over.” Remember,

Being tossed overboard was Jonah’s self-centered human solution to a spiritual problem.

All he needed to do was repent and surrender. Said this last week -

Repentance and obedience is the only solution to a problem caused by disobedience.

So the crew tossed him into the sea. We need to imagine the scene. This storm is so intense that it’s tearing the ship apart. Waves crashing over the deck, wind is blowing furiously – all hands on deck! Jonah hits the water, waves crashing over him tossing him to and fro - gasping for breath, going under, not knowing which way is up, he’s absolutely helpless. As the storm ceases, he’s about to breach the surface and breathe - and then he sees the ship getting farther and farther away. And reality sets in. Jonah is utterly alone, exhausted, and he can tread water for only so long. To the ancient world the sea was also known as the abyss, the realm of the dead – where evil and Leviathan, the chaos dragon resided. The sea was a place where God was supposedly absent.

So imagine the anxiety building within Jonah as he realized what he had done – and he looked around and there were no other ships in sight. There was no rescue. No changing course. As far as he knew, this was the end. Soon, his lungs would fill with water ….

Think about this – Jonah disobeyed God – became an agent of chaos and caused the sailors to lose all their cargo, feared for their lives and I’m sure they wet their pants – from the waves. Jonah had really made a mess.

What would you do if you were God? Let him drown – he made his bed …. Choose another prophet – one that will actually obey?

Jonah 1:17 LEB

And Yahweh provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

What a way to be rescued. Why not dolphins …?

Whether you believe this actually happened or not – doesn’t matter. We can argue all day long – is this fact or fiction, metaphor or reality? Whether it’s historical narrative or literary embellishment doesn’t change the lesson and message. What matters is what God wants to communicate to us. Don’t miss what God wants to say because of an argument we can never answer.

Between v1 to v17 - just guessing here – it’s possibly about 7 days. Then, let’s add on the 3 days inside the fish. So that’s 15 days (who’s paying attention). Just for conversation, let’s go with 10 days between God’s commission and rescue of Jonah. So, for 10 days Jonah was caught up in the storm of his life and now he’s in this large aquatic creature. He has no idea where he is. No idea if he will survive.

Jonah’s life was entirely out of his control, but entirely in the hands of God.

Understand, this was not Pinocchio sitting on a raft inside a whale. There’s zero comfort, no light and very little space. Image what this must have been like. Intense shock, fear, anxiety …. Oxygen would have been limited to pockets that constantly shifted. Encased in this stomach or whatever and saturated with undrinkable water and whatever else floating around. No food, no corner to relieve himself, no sleeping, and the smell was nauseating. This was absolute hell for 72 hours.

Curious - when was the last time Jonah heard God voice? By our gestimation, 10 days or so. Not record of God speaking between v1 and v17. What’s my point? When Jonah needed to hear God the most, God was silent. Not a peep from the Almighty.

Ever been there? Have you ever experienced the agonizing silence of God when you desperately need to hear God’s voice? “God, where are you? Say something! Rescue me!” “I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God,” says David, the man after God’s own heart (Psalm 69).

So for 10 days, when Jonah needed God the most, God was absent and silent. Or was He?

God spoke audibly, and maybe visibly to Jonah in v2. But God also communicated through the storm. The storm was God’s call for Jonah to repent. God communicated through pagan sailors. “Get up!” they said. Another opportunity to repent. God communicated through the casting of lots – another sign of His presence. God communicated by calming the sea. And now, God communicated through a fish.

Understand, that

What we perceive as God’s absence or silence in life may be His presence and “voice.”

God was constantly communicating in this story; constantly revealing His presence, whether Jonah perceived it or not.

God never lost sight of Jonah!

That is also true in our lives. But too often, we’re like Jonah. We don’t see God. Can’t see God. Or refuse to see God.

No doubt Jonah was in a desperate lonely situation. I recently listened to a podcast by Peter Scazzero. He was talking about loneliness. He said, sometimes,

“Loneliness can be given to us.”

Almost a gift. See,

When God orchestrates loneliness, He is stripping us of something.

– usually something we’re clinging to that will either hinder or ensnare us (monkey and banana). When God orchestrates loneliness, He is stripping us of our dependence on or worship of anything other than Himself.

It’s through loneliness or “storms” that we learn to depend on our Father. We learn to follow Christ – not just our feelings about Him.

If we let Him, God can transform us through our loneliness. Understand He’s not abandoning us, He’s molding us.

I can see that with Jonah. God was redirecting Jonah toward Nineveh, but also stripping him of his pride, rebellion, self-centeredness, and independence. And if my thoughts are correct, God also used the storm and fish to begin healing Jonah of past wounds. God was confronting the false and the wounded self for the purpose of uncovering the real Jonah, made in the Imago Dei.

At the beginning, I asked two questions.

1) How do you interpret or navigate God’s absence or silence?

2) How do you navigate those moments when you are confronted with your false self?

How might you navigate those two questions differently now that we have explored Jonah’s story and how God was very present and communicating through it all?

Closing

If you’d like to know this God, A – B – C

Psalm 139:1-18??