Deep Waters and Desperate Prayers

Introduction

ILLUST – 

•   Recap

•   Jonah running from God

•   Even if you’re not running from God don’t tune out. We’ll see there is more to this passage than a water-logged prophet-turned-fish-food who finally apologizes before he’s digested.

•   God has you here today to hear from him.

Jonah 1:17–2:10

“17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”

A DARK PLACE (1:17)

“17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

“prepared” the fish to swallow Jonah. The word “prepared” is translated from a word which means literally to “appoint” or “assign.” Here, then, for the fish, is the calling of God to the service of God.

John G. Butler

There is plenty of debate surrounding this verse.

Harry Rimmer (1890–1952) was a well-known Christian evangelist and creationist who frequently wrote on the harmony between science and the Bible.

Rimmer ironically says: “This is the first of 2 verses which ‘ruin’ the narrative. If this verse and 2:10 were removed, then the prophecy would be plausible for modern readers.”

Some say:

- It’s all an allegory

- The reference to “three days and three nights” is a reference that Jonah died and that God raised him from the dead.

- Jonah was really swallowed by a fish.

If you believe the second possibility why not believe God made a fish to swallow Jonah?

If you believe the first, what do you believe about God?

I believe Jonah was swallowed by a great fish – how? I don’t know. What kind of fish? – big – beyond that, I don’t know.

Readers can be so preoccupied with the big fish that they miss the significance of the prayer Jonah prays when he’s inside it.

John Goldingay

No matter what you believe, this was a dark place for Jonah.

Imagine what was this dark place like for Jonah:

•        dark

•        fearful

•        stinky

•        hopeless

Think about his situation:

Some say Jonah (or someone) wrote this later - even if these words were penned on dry land, I believe the realization of what they mean happened in the fish.

Jonah certainly thought he was finished when he was tossed into the water — listen to the way he described his situation:

- distress

- he was in the belly of “Sheol” (the grave)

- he was cast into the deep

- flood surrounded him

- waves and billows passed over him

- he feels he is driven from God’s sight

- the waters were closing over him

- deep surrounded him

- weeds were wrapped around his head

- he was going down with no hope

- life was fainting away

ILLUST – I don’t remember when if first began with me. I can remember the incident that I believe triggered it in my life, and I can remember the feeling of it many times throughout my life.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

This was the required time to declare a person dead.

As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Jonah was a goner.

Maybe you can relate? You know what it is like to be alone and hopeless.

Our dark place may be God’s vehicle of mercy.

Jonah is grateful to God for saving him from drowning.

Jonah recognizes that the very place of his confinement, his dark place, is actually the very thing that saved him - it was an instrument of God’s mercy.

Jonah understood he had been saved while he is still in the fish.

Jonah describes his turning point (We’ll examine it more later) - When his life was “fainting away” “I remembered the Lord.”

**Could it be your dark place is God’s vehicle to himself?

ILLUST – I know for a fact that I am closer to God because of the dark places and times in my life.

My dark places were definitely God’s vehicle for mercy.

‘But that’s cruel’ - Jonah had himself tossed out of a boat and into a raging sea rather than allow God to lead his life.

God could have let him drown. Instead, he reordered and orchestrated natural creation to save Jonah - imagine the fish

God can orchestrate for you to remember him

Our dark place may become our sanctuary with God.

One Bible scholar says this, “The belly of the fish is not a happy place to live, but it is a good place to learn.”

This really made me stop and think – What does it really take for me to spend time with God? What needs to happen for me to stop and recognize him – to “remember him?”

The fish – the dark place – became a sanctuary for Jonah – this was the place where God met him.

God needed to remove all the other voices, all the other competing idols – he removed everything he needed to reach Jonah. God was relentless.

Being alone allowed Jonah to realize he wasn’t.

ILLUST :

“One tribe of native Americans had a unique practice for training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, he was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then he had never been away from the security of his family and tribe. But on this night he was blindfolded and taken miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of thick woods. By himself. All night long.

“Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked. No doubt it was a terrifying night for many.

“After what seemed like an eternity, the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was the boy’s father. He had been there all night long.”

Jonah had attempted to remove himself from God’s presence (face), but God’s presence never left Jonah!

“It shows that though Jonah had been brought to the depths of misery within the fish, he nevertheless found the mercy of God in his misery. He discovered that though he had forsaken God, God had not forsaken him, though it seemed that he had. In brief, Jonah found salvation even before the fish vomited him up on the land.”

-James Montgomery Boice

**Could it be that the comforts of life are more dangerous to us spiritually than seasons of suffering? Could it be that there would be no other time for us to spend with him than when he makes us stop?

The scary part about this is this can happen when running FROM God as well as when we are running FOR God.

I would rather be in the belly of a fish with the presence of God than with a belly full of this world without Him.

Our dark place may be ultimately used for God’s glory.

Without Jonah’s dark place of the storm, the sailors would not have known Yahweh.

Without Jonah’s dark place the Ninevites might not have received the message to repent.

Without Jonah’s dark place you and I would not be benefitting from this story.

ILLUST – I asked God ‘Why?’ concerning my depression and he said,

2 Cor 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

God will use it for his glory. I don’t know when or how but he will.

**If this is all true re: the deep waters / dark places would you actually be willing to ask God to do whatever it takes for his presence to be real and meaningful in your life?

A DESPERATE PRAYER (2:1-6)

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,

“Jonah prayed.”

“What the sailors could not make the sleepy prophet do in chapter 1, the fish accomplishes in chapter 2.”

— Trent C. Butler

Notice it was to “the Lord his God”

Jonah who had been running from God is now calling out to him.

Deep waters and dark places tend to do that.

What else was he going to do? He was wrapped in seaweed.

But Jonah hadn’t prayed on the boat.

from the belly of the fish,

“from the stomach of the fish.” A believer cannot come to a place so abnormal that he cannot not pray to God there. The belly of the sea monster became Jonah’s prayer closet.

James E. Smith

In the desperate prayer:

We have an outlet for our pain.

it was an honest prayer

it was given to God not placed on someone else - God can handle it.

This is not always where we first go with our pain, but it needs to end up here

We put words to our fear, confusion, pain and bring it to the light

We have a place for God to speak

•   Our hearts and minds are reoriented to God

•   He can speak through his Word

•   Notice how Jonah’s prayer is drenched in the Psalms

-- “the flood surrounded me” (2:3) Comp. Psalm 42:7

Psalm 42:7 ESV

7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

-- “‘I am driven away from your sight” (2:4) Comp. Psalm 31:22

Psalm 31:22 ESV

22 I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.

-- “closed in over me to take my life” (2:5) Comp. Psalm 69:1

-- “my life was fainting away” (2:7) Comp. Psalm 147:3

-- “your holy temple” (2:8) Comp. Psalm 31:6

-- “Salvation belongs to the Lord” Comp. Psalm 3:8

•   The Word of God informs our minds and encourages our hearts.

How God has spoken to us informs how we speak to God.

ILLUST – God would speak to me through his Word – Phil 4 -- 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. 7 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. – This would literally wash over me.

A DECISIVE CHANGE (2:7-10)

7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.

Return to God (7)

In Hebrew, it is “the LORD I remembered” emphasizing God first.

- Jonah hadn’t forgotten the Lord intellectually - he remembered the Lord willfully –

zakar can mean ‘to profess’

Notice all the places Jonah attributes to God in his life throughout his prayer.

He is recognizing God’s leading in his life instead of constantly trying to be the leader of his own life.

Return to Worship (8-9a)

8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you;

** Notice Jonah has not left the fish – He is worshiping BENEATH the waves!

He didn’t wait until things “got better” for him to worship

**Worship is dependent on the bent of our heart not the place of our feet. You can worship beneath the waves.

– This is true for church and for the dark places in my life.

Worshiping God only after he delivers you from the depths makes him a genie and not God.

We worship God because of who he is not because of what he does for us.

Even in the depths God is there, and wherever God is, he deserves worship.

Return to Mission (9b-10)

what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

we don’t know what Jonah vowed. Usually this was a promise to worship at the Temple as thanksgiving for God’s salvation

Then Jonah utters the most important statement of the entire Book of Jonah: Salvation belongs to the Lord!

Surely Jonah was applying this to his immediate circumstances being three days in the belly of the fish, but as we know, Jesus came and spent three days in the belly of the grave - not that he might return to mission, but that he might fulfill his mission of salvation for all who will believe in him.

Just as Jonah recognized God’s salvation saving him from the deep waters even though he was still in the dark place of the fish, we can recognize the salvation of Jesus even though we from time to time find ourselves dark places.

The dark place doesn’t negate the fact that SALVATION BELONGS TO THE LORD, and that is the most important thing!!

The dark place reorients Jonah’s life to the true place of meaning.

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”

Conclusion

What do we learn from Jonah inside the Big Fish?

(Whether you feel the waters have risen around you or your own sin has tossed you in the waves)

You can never be too deep

That God’s presence won’t meet you

He is always with you no matter how much you are running from him

That God’s mercy won’t extend to you

You are not too far gone! Whatever it is, God’s mercy is greater!!

To not be saved

There is no sinner too sinful that the Savior cannot save!

That God won’t hear and answer

Only the Enemy would tell you not to cry out to God.

To not pray, repent, and get back on track

If God can use a fish to catch a man, he can use any man to be a fisher of men.

That God cannot bring you back up

“Salvation belongs to the Lord.”

will you fulfill what you have vowed as a follower of Christ?