Jonah 2c
Jonah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Jonah 2, if you like.
In the early hours of the morning, while it was still dark Jonah rose from his bed, lit a candle, made some coffee and sat down to study and pray. It was a typical morning – quiet and still – most of Jerusalem was still asleep. He had grown accustomed to the loneliness and quietness of his home. It had been several years since he had lost his family to the Assyrians – to “those people,” whom he believed were from Nineveh. He knew he had bitterness in his heart toward them, but so what? They were after all uncircumcised Gentiles, far from Yahweh, worshipping their pagan gods, and doing ungodly things. They were violent and brutal. They deserved death and Jonah often prayed that God would take vengeance upon them, not only for his loss, but for all in Israel who grieved the loss of loved ones at the hands of the Assyrians.
It was a typical morning – quiet and still, and then Yahweh spoke. Jonah was familiar with God’s voice. He was, after all, one of Israel’s prophets. When he heard the familiar, “Jonah,” he sat up eager to hear Yahweh’s voice.
And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
“Get up! Go to the great city Nineveh and cry out against her, because their evil has come up before me.”
Jonah sat in stunned silence, nearly dropped his cup - shocked at what God asked him to do. First it was disbelief. Then anger and bitterness began to build and turned into rage and defiance. As the sun began to illuminate the streets of Jerusalem, Jonah, filled with fury ran from his home and made his way to Joppa, boarded a ship, endured the most terrible storm he had ever experienced, and then spent 3 days and 3 nights in a great fish.
From inside the fish, Jonah felt the intense loneliness and darkness and silence of God’s absence. We know God was still present, but He allowed Jonah to feel as if He were absent. This, I believe caused
Jonah experienced what John of the Cross, a 16thCentury Priest called, “The Dark Night of the Soul.”
As his life ebbed away,
And Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the belly of the fish
and said, “I called from my distress to Yahweh, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried for help— you heard my voice.
And you threw me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the sea currents surrounded me; all your breakers and your surging waves passed over me.
And I said, ‘I am banished from your sight; how will I continue to look on your holy temple?’
The waters encompassed me up to my neck; the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
I went down to the foundations of the mountains; the Underworld—its bars were around me forever. But you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God.
Jonah experienced
“The Dark Night of the Soul” is not to punish, but to purge.
Jonah’s heart was full of bitterness, anger, pride and apathy. He had created a false self – a façade to hide his hard heart. Even though he was a prophet, a man of God who appeared spiritual and dignified on the outside, his heart contained ungodly temperaments. And so
God used storm and fish, darkness and despair to purge Jonah.
This purging is intended to remove a cold heart of stone and replace it with a warm compassionate pliable heart.
- a heart that is pure and one that God can use. That is the essence and purpose of the Dark Night of the Soul.
There comes a moment in our Christian journey when we must choose between a shallow and weak or deep and authentic Christian faith - when we must choose between following self or following the cross of Christ.
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
If you choose Christ and truly seek Him, you will eventually come to a Dark Night of the Soul when you wrestle with God and your faith and you are confronted with a choice – do I cling to my life or do I become crucified with Christ.
Thomas á Kempis, in his book The Imitation of Christ wrote,
“Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross ….
At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort ….
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it,
for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. [At the cross] He wishes you to learn … to submit yourself wholly to Him ….” ~ Thomas á Kempis.
When you experience a Dark Night of the Soul, you will have another choice.
You can turn back and live a stunted Christianity, or you can allow it to transform you and purify you.
During that Dark Night, patience perseverance, and surrender are the keys to surviving.
Jonah prayed,
When my life was ebbing away from me, I remembered Yahweh, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.
But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you; I will fulfill what I have vowed. Deliverance belongs to Yahweh!”
And Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out on the dry land.
Let me read from the journal of a person who wrestled with their own Dark Night of the Soul. They begin with
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
“The whirlwind of emotions is indeed a tempest within me. I feel as if this storm will rip out my very soul and leave me for dead on some forsaken shore. I feel that much is being torn from me. My God, I do not know how much longer I can persist. I feel abandoned. Jesus, I am at my wits end. I am empty. There is nothing left in me to get me out of this.
“In my faithfulness, you have taken much away. You are God. You have every right to do with my life as you choose. My life belongs to you. My ministry, my home, my family, my occupation is all yours. My successes and failures are yours. What you give and what you have taken are yours. If you break me, that is your right. If you build me up, that is also your right.
“Apart from you I can do nothing. Apart from you I am nothing. Apart from you there is nothing.
“Coming to the end of ourselves is painful. Every fiber within us resists and fights to stay alive. Coming to the end of ourselves is difficult and unpleasant. It is a dark path - perilous and lonely. Yet this is where God truly resides. It is down the darkest path that Jesus awaits and bids us to come. Few are willing to travel this holy path of self-death before they find true life.
“The truth is no one can walk with us on this path - not even God. He is at the beginning urging us to go and He is at the end begging us to come. Though His eyes never leave His children, it is a path that we walk alone. It is a path where all is stripped away. I'm not talking necessarily about sin. Sin, for the most part, must be dealt with prior to walking this path. For this path leads to death - a death of all we hold dear – a death of our rights, our positions, our prestige, and our false identities. Anything that we lay claim to – accomplishments, successes, failures, rewards, entitlements and so on must meet their end on this path. It is a path where all is stripped away till there is absolutely nothing left but Jesus Christ. February 8, 2014.
Before we leave in gloom and despair and deep dark depression, understand that those who persevere through the Dark Night of the Soul will emerge forever changed. As with Jonah, there is dry land when the night is over. Again, Thomas á Kempis wrote,
“Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God” ~ Thomas á Kempis.
The Apostle Paul wrote,
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
That is freedom, and the purpose of the Dark Night.
Peter Scazzero says this,
“The wall [i.e. the Dark Night] is God's way of rewiring and ‘purging our affections and passions’ so that we might delight in his love and enter into a richer, fuller communion with him.
God works to free us from unhealthy worldly attachments and idolatries. He wants to communicate his true sweetness and love to us. He longs for us to know his true peace and rest.” ~ Peter Scazzero
A few things I have learned.
1) Determine to Persevere.
God has not abandoned you, but He is working to purify you that you may be perfect and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).
2) Seek a Partner.
Seek a brother or sister in Christ who has been there - to walk alongside, pray, and encourage you. This should be no secret - this is part of the Christian journey. Don’t be ashamed.
3) Offer continual Praise.
Praise is our secret sauce.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.