Jonah 2
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Let’s back up a little bit.
Have you noticed how most of the story of Jonah we hear about is contained in only the first chapter?
Sure, there’s one verse at the end of this chapter we all remember, but the vast majority of what we remember of the story is in chapter 1.
So let’s start working on the rest of the story.
Remember, when we left Jonah he had just been thrown off the ship and God was ready for him.
With a little
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.
Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days before he prayed.
How often do we see prayer as our last chance rather than our first choice?
We struggle and we plan and we try so very hard, yet we don’t seem to ask God until we’ve run out of ourselves.
Like the sailors who rowed as hard as they could before doing what Jonah said they needed to do.
How much different would this story have been if Jonah prayed on day one rather than day three?
How much different would our lives be if we prayed on day one?
How much do we struggle before we cry out to God?
When we cry out, are we repentant or do we blame God?
Or are we just looking for a “Get Our of Jail Free” card?
Why do we do that?
Do we think God won’t hear us until we’ve exhausted ourselves?
Do we think “God helps those who help themselves”?
BTW, THAT is not in the bible.
THAT is the arrogance of thinking WE are god.
Which happens to have been the first sin.
Maybe we are afraid that God won’t help us?
That we’re not worthy of God’s help.
Notice, now He is the Lord Jonah’s God.
Where would we be then?
And he said:
“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,
And He answered me.
“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
Jonah’s prayer stars out with his state and God’s response.
Jonah prayed out of his affliction.
He prayed out of the belly of Sheol.
Sheol is hell.
Sounds like the belly of the fish was quite unpleasant.
Actually, think about it, that would probably be an understatement.
Yet how often do we create a hell for ourselves in how we live our lives?
How often has our sin and disobedience put us in situations that feel like Jonah’s?
God answered him after he called out.
Do we wait until our life is a living hell before we call out to God?
Do we think God will wait until things are that bad before He answers?
Like some cheesy movie, where the countdown has to get to 1 before our hero stops the bomb?
We don’t have to wait until the last minute to call out to God.
He hears you whenever you call.
For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
God cast Jonah into the deep?
I thought he got the sailors to throw him into the sea.
They were fulfilling God’s will.
Even though they did not know Him.
Sometimes what happens to us, what other people do, is the fulfillment of God’s will,
The punishment for our disobedience.
Why do we blame other people for the consequences of our own actions?
The floods surrounded him and the waves passed over him.
Jonah’s imagery is that of being swallowed up by the sea.
Like a man drowning in debt.
Or a woman drowning in sorrow.
Does this hit a little to close to home?
Maybe we’re closer to Jonah then we’d like to admit.
Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;
Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
Was Jonah truly out of God’s sight?
Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 5869 עֹונָה, עַיִן
[ʿayin /ah·yin/]
The word translated sight, [ayin /ah-yin/], in this context means “attention”.
He had been cast into the sea because he had walked away from God and His instructions.
So who was out of whom’s “sight”?
How often have we walked out of God’s “sight”?
Jonah’s punishment has led to his repentance and he once again will look toward the Lord.
Why do you think Jesus said:
“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
Just as Jonah would not repent until he was cast out of the sight of God,
Literally caught in a storm, thrown overboard, then swallowed by a fish.
So many of our brothers and sisters, maybe even you and I, may require being cast out of God’s “sight” before they repent.
And Jesus words beg the question, how can a loving God tell His people to throw people out of His church?
Is it loving to defend someone’s sin as they are on the way to hell?
If they will not hear, that is one thing.
If they will not hear, that is one thing.
If they will not hear, that is one thing.
Letting them suffer the consequences of their actions, praying it will lead to repentance.
But if you will not intercede for them,
Speaking and acting the truth in love,
What does that say about how much you love your neighbor?
Now Jonah will once again look to God’s holy temple.
Actually focus his attention on God.
Rather, speaking and acting the truth in love,
Letting them suffer the consequences of their actions, praying it will lead to repentance.
The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
Jonah is describing the consequences of his sin, his disobedience.
Thrown into the sea, caught in the weeds and sinking to the bottom.
Barred from returning to his life on earth.
Yet God has brought his life back from hell… by arranging for a fish.
How bad is your situation when being swallowed by a fish is your salvation?
Where are you?
Do you feel weeds wrapped around your head?
Do you feel barred from this earth?
Do you feel like you’re in a pit?
Do you need a fish?
Or is God calling you to be a fish for someone else?
“When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.
Again, it seems like Jonah we wait until we have expended all our capabilities before we remember that God is there.
Then we pray to Him.
In many ways, this shows the difference between a disciple and a follower.
A follower will follow, but is not under the disciple of their leader.
Like Frank Sinatra, they do things their way.
A disciple lives by the disciplines they are taught by their master.
Jesus prayed to the Father frequently and for situations as they happened.
Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.
A disciple will follow the disciplines of his master.
Whose disciplines are you following?
“Those who regard worthless idols
Forsake their own Mercy.
But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.”
Like the sailors who prayed to worthless idols who could not save them, they had forsaken their mercy, their salvation.
It was following God’s will that saved the sailors and Jonah.
Now, while inside a fish, Jonah recognizes that he cannot run from God.
He prays with thanksgiving… from within a fish.
He promises to pay his vow, with no obvious way to do so.
He recognizes that the situation he is in is the Lord’s salvation for him.
What situation are you in that is the consequence of your sin?
What is the Lord’s salvation for you?
Do you recognize it yet?
Are you ready to pray with thanksgiving?
Even in the situation you are in?
Do you recognize it yet?
So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Another sign you’re having a bad day is when the best thing that happens to you is being vomited out of a fish.
The Lord provided the fish, and the Lord told it to expel Jonah.
While we look at being swallowed by a fish as a bad thing, it was God’s provision, His salvation for Jonah.
Have you ever looked back at a difficult time in your life and found that it was God’s provision for you?
The next step in Jonah’s salvation was to be up-chucked.
And not back into the sea, but onto dry land.
And not back into the sea, but onto dry land.
God was already moving Jonah in the direction he must go.
Conclusion
We often find ourselves in difficult situations.
Sometimes, they are of our own making, sometimes they aren’t.
We may be suffering the consequences of our own sin, or the sins of another.
But how we handle it will say a lot about our relationship with God.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Do we love Jesus?
Do we follow His commandments?
Do we start by praying and seeking God’s will?
Or do we try to pull ourselves us by our own bootstraps?
Is God our first choice or our last resort?
Do we see Him as our salvation or the cause of our suffering?
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
What kind of fruit do you produce?
When we pray from our suffering, are we seeking God’s will or just our relief?
Do we make promises to God if only He will help us?
Are we looking for His glory or our comfort?
Do we view our suffering as our salvation or simply God’s punishment?
The good news is God is there when we are ready to submit to him.
Our salvation may not be pretty, but it will be what we need.
My question to you is...
Are you ready to be vomited out of your fish?