Sermon Tone Analysis

Background

If you have been through a storm in your life, if you have found yourself in the belly of the beast, if you are suffering as a consequence of disobedience or even through no fault of your own, then the prayer of Jonah is for you.

You’ll identify with it, learn from it, and be comforted by it.

Instead of focusing on what happened inside the fish, let’s look at what happened inside of Jonah.

Jonah’s prayer is a powerful reminder that, even if we forsake God, He never forsakes us.

Even though Jonah was on the run from God, he could not escape the loving embrace of God’s arms.

He had been running, running, running.

Finally, he ended up in a place where he could run no longer—the belly of the fish.

He couldn’t run, couldn’t move, and couldn’t breathe, yet the Lord granted him enough breath with which to pray.

couldn’t run, couldn’t move, and couldn’t breathe, yet the Lord granted him enough breath with which to pray.

Youssef, Michael.

Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (p.

132).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

He never forsakes us.

Even though Jonah was on the run from God, he could not escape the loving embrace of God’s arms.

He had been running, running, running.

Finally, he ended up in a place where he could run no longer—the belly of the fish.

He couldn’t run, couldn’t move, and couldn’t breathe, yet the Lord granted him enough breath with which to pray.

Youssef, Michael.

Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (pp.

132-133).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

Youssef, Michael.

Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (pp.

130-131).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

Probingly Honest (vs.

1-6)

Jonah doesn’t play the victim

Jonah isn’t blaming God, he is simply acknowledging his reality.

His situation was bleak and it was bleak because he was in the consequences of his sin.

Jonah isn’t out for sympathy

Through his own spiritual defection, Jonah has cut himself off from everything that mattered to him.

Penitently Genuine (vs.

8)

Penitently Genuine

In regarding “vain idols” Jonah had taken his eyes off of the One whom he had served.

Jonah acknowledged that God had not forsaken him, but he had forsaken God.

Jonah refused to play the “if”, “then” game with God.

Owning your role in the scenario is important.

The idea of penitence is the idea of attaching the consequence to the action and not the judgment.

Jonah’s failure to follow God was the root cause of his current dilemma.

Filled with Praise (vs.

9)

Jonah praised God…before the answer!

Jonah determined that in spite of the circumstances he was going to praise God in the moment.

1979 song by the Imperials entitled: Praise the Lord: “When you are up against a struggle that has shattered all of your dreams.

And your hopes have been cruelly crushed by Satan’s manifested schemes.

When you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fears, don’t let the faith you’re standing in seem to disappear.

PRAISE THE LORD!”

Jonah had no way of knowing whether he would be delivered, yet he chose to praise God.

In , “He ANSWERED me”, You HEARD my voice”.

In , “You have BROUGHT up my life”.

Jonah doesn’t ask for anything in this prayer, instead he thanks God for the deliverance he expects to receive!

This is a gift, and an art, and a spiritual discipline to learn to praise God in the midst of the crisis.

In , Paul and Silas prayed in the prison cell praising God.

Claim the Promise

Compare verse 2 to:

Psalm 18:4-6

Compare verse 4 to:

Compare verse 6 to:

Psalm

Compare verse 7 to:

Compare verse 9 to:

Pslam 3:8

We come to God, offering Him our sacrifices, acknowledging that we have nothing to cling to but His grace, nothing to claim but His promises, nothing to brag about but His extravagant, unconditional love.

Look at verse 10

CONCLUSION

When Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish, he didn’t know how God would deliver him or when God would deliver him.

He didn’t even know if God would deliver him alive, safe and sound, on dry land, or if his deliverance would take the form of physical death.

He simply trusted that God, in His own sovereign way and by His own sovereign choice, would deliver him from the belly of that fish.

Youssef, Michael.

Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (p.

145).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

Youssef, Michael.

Life-Changing Prayers: How God Displays His Power to Ordinary People (p.

145).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.