The Humbling of Jonah

Alexander Galvez

Overflow Ministries

Jonah • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago • Presented 6 years ago

Jonah 2:1–10

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Intro:

2:1 A glimmer of hope. Jonah prayed to the Lord. At last there is relief. Maybe he finally has come to his senses. But could it also be foreshadowing something inside Jonah? He only goes/responds to God on his own terms? Contrast to 1:1, God goes to Him. God brings the storm to him. God brings the fish to him. But here, Jonah goes to the Lord for the first time we read in this narrative. So it is a hopeful passage, but yet it makes us question his motive. In fact, the prayer itself is interesting in and of itself as well. Why now?

Perhaps he finally is broken. Yet, for those who know the story, we know we are left at a cliffhanger. But so we don’t spoil it. This could be foreshadowing Jonah wanting it his way. But still it cannot be denied, Jonah is realizing that God’s providence will happen.

He has been running, but still he never gets to where he wants to go. He charted a course for Tarshish and yet, here he is, in a fish!

Perhaps he is coming to terms with the sovereignty of God and he humbles himself and calls out to God. Now his prayer almost seems at odds with humility though. God is in control, yes! And after 3 days in the belly of a fish, he is surrendering to it and yet…his words are of great interest. It is almost as if he has given up. There is a lot of me focus as well. 23 times his focus in on himself and 15 times directly or indirectly referencing God.

Or perhaps the name it and claim it folks will twist this prayer of Jonah.

The initiator is Jonah in the prayer. The reactor is God.

Perhaps

vs 2- Jonah calls to God and He answers. But how did He answer Jonah?

Jonah cried out for help and God heard his voice. How?

vs 3-4: God threw him and the breakers covered him. God banished. (Yet Jonah will look again on the temple.)

6: Foretelling? He will be lifted up.

8: Referring to the Israelites worshipping vain idols? Could it also be a reflection on the pagan seamen? Or perhaps foretelling of the Ninevites?

9: Now he says he will fulfill his vow. What vow would that be? To be the spokesman of God? Is there hesitation? We do not really know the answer to that. Could it be that this is a negotiation with God? Could the vow refer to vs 2:2 or maybe the first part of vs 9.

Salvation belongs to the Lord- He knows God will save as He and whosoever He chooses. Jonah is not to disobey, salvation is not in his hands to withhold, but he is obligated to obey God.

10: Lord gives command and the fish obeys. Another inclusio and chiastic structure. 2:10 closes off 1:17

1:17 - God commands fish and fish obeys eating up Jonah.

2:1-2 - Call of distress to the Lord. Call for help and was heard

2:2

2:3 - Waves were overcoming him

2:4 - Banished from God’s sight, but he will see His temple

2:5 Water up to the neck, life is fading.

2:6 - Sank to the lowest part. God does the saving!

2:7 - Life was fading, Remember the Lord and His temple

2:8 - Idol worship is adulterous

2:9 - Call of thanksgiving. Heard the call and will fulfill his vow Salvation belongs to the Lord

2:10 - God gives command and fish obeys throwing up Jonah.

Prayer of Jonah seems to be a prayer of thanksgiving for his deliverance from drowning and not a punishment for him to be in a fish

Intro:

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Rescue

On May 23, 1939, the submarine Squalus, a five-million-dollar vessel, sank off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The famed McCann rescue bell was used for the first time. Through this bell-shaped valve, men were able to reach and to rescue the thirty-three men trapped inside. When the rescue squad reached the stricken submarine, they tapped with metal on the hull in an effort to locate the sailors. The imprisoned men, answering in similar fashion, asked in the language of the Morse code, “Is there any hope?”

Jonah is a fascinating story that we tell our children, it is a story that excites us, angers us, disappoints us, and brings us to just worship God. But it is also a story that is very much about hope. A hope that can be found. A hope that can be found in God alone.

At this point in the story, we may be wondering, is there any hope for Jonah. Is there any hope for the people God is seeking to save. And so far what we have seen is that there is. Despite the sinful efforts of Jonah, God is gracious and merciful and patient with Jonah.

Maybe you are now reminiscing on how patient and gracious and merciful God is with you. And it is because of God’s mercy and grace in the giving of His son and the faith He grants to us so that we may repent from our sins and believe in Him that we can have joy. That we now have this desire to please Him and worship Him!

Jonah is reminded of this fact that salvation comes from the Lord and he is humbled. He also remembers God’s goodness.

Body:

As we look into Jonah’s prayer, a good question to ask is what is the motivation of the prayer? Throughout this whole narrative, Jonah has not once prayed to the Lord. In fact, it could be that the time when Jonah prayed to the Lord was when he had initially received the commission from God to go to the Ninevites.

In fact Jonah has been in the belly of the great fish now for three days and three nights. And so this is no small thing. It is rather significant that Jonah prays, that Jonah offers up this psalm to the Lord!

One can imagine that people who have hit rock bottom will reach out to God in a moment of desperation, we do the same don’t we? And you have to think, well how much worse could it really get for Jonah. But Jonah prays. He does not pray to nothing. He prays to his God.

That is key. And I do feel that it is important to remember that we do pray to God. Because I fear and have seen in my short lifetime that a lot of times when people pray, they do it as a sort of laundry list. They basically just speak words into the air hoping that God will pick them up. But those are empty prayers. They are vain prayers. Christ provided one model for which we are to pray, not the only one in the Lord’s prayer found in the sermon on the mount.

Our Father....we are praying to our God. And He listens. and hears and desires to hear the prayers of his people.

We pray to God! Not some enigma not to the clouds or to our neighbors. And no other religion in the world is capable of doing what we do. We can pray to God and He will hear our prayers. Other religions pray to a god, but it is a deaf god, no god at all but mere creations.

Isaiah spoke of this in the 44th chapter:

The Holman Christian Standard Bible Chapter 44

13 The woodworker stretches out a measuring line,

he outlines it with a stylus;

he shapes it with chisels

and outlines it with a compass.

He makes it according to a human likeness,

like a beautiful person,

to dwell in a temple.

14 He cuts down cedars for his use,

or he takes a cypress or an oak.

He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest.

He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

15 It serves as fuel for man.

He takes some of it and warms himself;

also he kindles a fire and bakes bread;

he even makes it into a god and worships it;

he makes an idol from it and bows down to it.

16 He burns half of it in a fire,

and he roasts meat on that half.

He eats the roast and is satisfied.

He warms himself and says, “Ah!

I am warm, I see the blaze.”

17 He makes a god or his idol with the rest of it.

He bows down to it and worships;

He prays to it, “Save me, for you are my god.”

Pointless. Jonah knows this. verse 8 “Those who cling to worthless idols forsake faithful love”

So he prays to God, but why? Well this is sort of a place of consternation for some, while others worship. Was this a prayer from Jonah giving thanks to God for his provision and rescue and a promise to walk in obedience? Or could it be that Jonah is just thankful that he was saved from the sea?

From the beginning, we can tell that verses 2-3 are directly referring to his deliverance from the water. We see this even reiterated in vs 5-6.. Jonah understood that that was it. He was drowning and it was the end of his life. He needed deliverance and he got it. God had sent to him a fish.

There is an anecdote of a man who was hiking on a mountain and while he is hiking, he loses his footing and begins to tumble down the mountain towards a cliff. In desperation, he tries to stop but once he gets to the edge of the cliff, he rolls off and grabs a aged branch that is hanging off the ledge. As he is hanging on for his life, he calls out for help. But nobody answers.

And so, he begins to pray, not knowing how to pray, he prays to God or whomever is up there and asks salvation. God speaks to him and says let go of the branch and I will save you.

The man responds, “Is there anyone else up there?”

You know I think that can be true for some of us. as well. We are not necessarily happy with the method that God ordains for our deliverance. But at least here in this instance, Jonah is a good example. Jonah is grateful. He has been saved by God through a fish and he starts to worship. Jonah is humbled and Jonah is worshipping. He is not complaining to God about the method of his deliverance, he is praising God!

And you will notice that Jonah does not negotiate with God. He trusts in God and cries out to Him his thanksgiving. And not just that, in verse 9 it seems that he is finally submitting to the will of God. He says “I will fulfill what I have vowed.” He will be obedient, when he declared that God is Lord, Jonah is going to be in keeping with it. He will go and sacrifice to the Lord, should the Lord choose to save him.

And the great proclamation, salvation is from the Lord. Which truly could be the theme verse for all of Jonah. It is all about the fact that God saves. Which lends also to the irony of the story. The fact that God saves is the very same reason which fills Jonah with intense anger in the fourth chapter of Jonah when God does in fact save. Jonah here, knows that he deserves death, but God who is rich in mercy and love, saves.

We are starting to get a good idea of who this Jonah person is. And I think many look to the prayer of Jonah as a way to sort of let him off the hook. To sympathize with Jonah and to be hopeful. But I think upon further examination, Jonah’s prayer is not a very good one.

We read of his acknowledgement that God saved him. But we also see a sort of thanksgiving and almost rededication to the Lord. But the prayer is not a very good one. And I think that we can learn from it.

So what can we learn positively from it?

1) Well, Jonah is rightfully thankful to the correct source. He acknowledges that it is the Lord who saves and none other.

2) Jonah trusts in the Lord as well. We see that he firmly believes that God will be his deliverer. And that salvation is from the Lord.

3) We learn a bit about worship. True worship.

So overall, we sense a sincerity in Jonah’s prayer. Jonah is truly praising God and humbled by God. He is grateful and thankful

But there are also some things that make us question. Jonah, never repents. And he really should. He has been running from God.

The lack of mention of repentance in the psalm does not necessarily mean he did not repent at all. He may have and chose not to include it to demonstrate a lesson for readers to understand that God is sovereign and that God ought to be praised in any and all circumstances.

The recommissioning of Jonah when he is out of the fish may very well be the proof we need that Jonah does repent.

But then again, the lack of mention of repentance does stick out to us. Because we see that repentance is a big part of this book. And Jonah’s lack of repentance in this included psalm is something of a frustration.

Conclusion:

And yet again we are reminded of God’s love.

You know how you reflect back on a happy day in your life. For example, your wedding day, or maybe when you got your first promotion. Your first car, your first kiss, your graduation, or an accomplishment of something very important to you. You can reflect on those moments and have some joy. But I want you to remember to reflect on how good God is and how He saved you. Think on how your sins brought you down to the bottom. Your sins, worse yet, meant you deserved hell. But God sent his son and he died on a cross bearing the sins of the elect. You no are now free. Free to do what? Free to worship. Just as Jonah did.

When you go through difficulty, you think on Him.

“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord.”

As Spurgeon reflected “WHEN man was first made, there was no fear of his forgetting God, for it was his highest privilege and delight to have communion with his Maker. “The Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day,” and Adam was privileged to hold fellowship with God, closer, perhaps, than even the angels had in heaven. But the spell of that sacred harmony was rudely broken by man’s disobedience and his dreadful fall. Ever since our first parent tasted of the forbidden fruit, which brought death into our world, and all its train of woes, his mortal race has been naturally prone to forget God.”

Spurgeon, C. H. (1916). The Fainting Soul Revived. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 62, p. 205). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

Remember the Lord. Salvation is from the Lord. and from the Lord alone.

We cannot save anyone. Salvation is from the Lord.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. LXII The Fainting Soul Revived (No. 3,510)

When you are empty of your own conceits, there is room for Christ to enter your heart. When you are stripped, Christ’s garments are provided for you. When you are hungry, the bread that cometh down from heaven is provided for you. When you are thirsty, the water of life is yours. Let this broken-heartedness, this terror, this alarm, this faintness, this weakness of yours, only lead you to say, “I am such as Christ invited to himself. I will go to him, and if I perish, I will perish only there”; and if you trust Jesus, you shall never perish, neither shall any pluck you out of his hand. May you trust him here and now. Amen.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. LXII The Fainting Soul Revived (No. 3,510)

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