Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide

Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide

Intro:

When we left Jonah last week, he had even commanded by God to Arise and Go to Nineveh to preach repentance.

Read Verses:

Main Idea: God will use any means necessary to bring people to Himself

I. God Can Use the Natural World (vv 4-6)

Jonah goes down into the boat which is the opposite of going up to Nineveh. So God hurls or throws down a great wind onto the Sea. Unlike Jonah, the wind and the sea obey God’s command to rise up. Imagine the sea spray from the waves crashing against the ship, and the wind battering and possibly spinning the ship.

In fact, the original language makes the ship comes alive and it is like the ship wanted, or considered breaking apart because of God’s power and authority.

God is using everything in the natural world, I will include the ship because it is made of wood, so you have wood, wind, and water, working on getting Jonah’s attention.

In the ancient world Storms were witnessed and written about as demonstrations of the Awesome power of the gods. People who became shipwrecked but survived the storm were thought to be graced or chosen by the gods. Some people took that to mean that they were chosen to serve the god that they thanked saved them.

The Apostle Paul makes manifest his dedication to his ministry as well as his special election to the task by referring to the three times he came to be shipwrecked on God’s service ().

And this furious storm comes up out of nowhere, even though we know where the storm comes from, and so the sailors start praying to any god they can think of to hopefully hit the right one and appease him or her. And thy think that everyone should be praying so the captain goes down to the bottom of the ship and to get Jonah to pray to his God.

Listen to what the captain says, What are you doing asleep? Get Up! Call out your God. Here are a few things to note.

1) Jonah was sound asleep. The Greek phrasing of the sentence says why are you snoring. He was dead to the storm and dead to the world, which represents Jonah being dead to God

2) the Captain commands Jonah to get up just like God commanded Jonah in verse 2. And he also says call out to your god. The original language links the command to call out to God’s command to preach to Nineveh.

God has produced a storm and the nonbelievers are reacting and at least on some level realize that the storm is supernatural. Knowing how to read the weather is an important aspect of being a sailor, it helps you prepare and protect your ship and then men aboard.

Application: Sometimes the storms or the troubles in your life are there to get your attention.

The captain wanted Jonah to wake up. Not be dead to the world and what was going on. You can’t hide in bed all day because it is raining or because things are hard. God Gave Jonah a task to do and that entailed going somewhere new and doing something difficult.

In the Old Testament God used droughts several times to get people’s attention. As the psalmist wrote, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters” ().

God is telling you you need to face the storm, not be afraid of it, because God is behind the storm.he is not creating evil, but he is using situations to bring you near to Him, to get you to look for him behind the wind and the rain and the loud noises.

But God does not give us a spirit of timidness. Jesus is the lion of Judah, not the mouse.

God uses the storm to motivate other people to bring Jonah a little closer to God, back from the depths

II. God Can Use Other People (vv. 7-10)

The sailors are at their wit's end and so they need to figure out who is the cause of the storm and they have been having a pagan prayer meeting. Someone must have done something to anger one of the many gods that pagans thought existed. Imagine standing on this rocking deck, the wind howling around you making it impossible to hear. You are being sprayed with water and probably hit with waves as they break over the side of the ship. But the sailors need to figure out how to stop the storm.

They draw lots and the short straw falls on Jonah. This confirms for the sailors that Jonah is indeed the one that has committed some sin that has offended his God.

They instantly question Jonah. What is your job? Where are you from? Who are your people?

Jonah answers, and it seems rather proudly and maybe a little arrogantly, announces “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” Listen to the irony in that statement. He says he worships the Lord. All caps means calling God by His name, Yahweh. But he is running in the opposite direction. By his answering of who made the sea and the land, he is saying that he knows t is God, Yahweh, that is controlling the storm that they are in.

The questions The sailors asked confronted Jonah to his sin against God, his disobedience.

Application: God uses people to confront you and convict you of your sins

After David has his affair with Bathsheba and he has her husband Uriah killed in , In 2 Samuel chapter 12, God uses the prophet, Nathaniel, to tell David a parable about a rich man and a poor man. (Turn to ).

Nathan was speaking God’s word to David, Jonah was supposed to deliver God’s word to the Ninevites, but instead, God used nonbelievers to deliver His word to Get Jonah to repent and get back on task. As Jonah states, Yahweh is Lord. And Creator of the sea the land. Right out of God’s word.

says For the word of God is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The scriptures can be used to layout our iniquities, and our sins.

With unshakable confidence in the Scripture, John Calvin wrote, “There is nothing so hard or firm in a man, nothing so deeply hidden, that the efficacy of the Word does not penetrate through it.”

But there is good news in the scriptures that we see in this story and it runs through the whole Bible. God’s grace. God could have killed Jonah and picked a different prophet, just like he could have killed David. He could destroy the Nineveh if they did not repent but God chose grace to give to those people or group of people for some reason he doesn’t have to go through it individually, God the son went to the cross and paid your debt and my debt to make us new again. To wake us from our dead sleep and make us alive.

TS: God knows that it sometimes takes time to bring us around, but God can wait.

III. God Can Use Patience (vv. 11-16)

God commands Jonah in verse 2 and here in the middle of the chapter, we still see that Jonah is not obeying Him just yet. We know where Jonah was when he was given the command to go to Nineveh, but he had to go Down to the port of Joppa and purchase a ticket get on a boat, so it is probably at least a couple days. Jonah has now seen his errors, but neither he nor the sailors know what to do next.

And the narrator tells us that instead of calming down, the storm was getting worse and worse. God can wait you out, but Jonah still does not react or come about to where God wants him to be.

Instead, Jonah, in kind of dramatic fashion and still being rebellious, says ‘Just throw me in the ocean” and it will calm down and you guys will be safe.

Jonah seems very depressed and the only way out that he sees is just to offer himself as a sacrifice. Jonah would rather die than give into God.

But even the sailors are not sure just yet and they seem determined to get him back to land to drop him off and get him off of the ship and out of their hair.

The difference between the sailors and Jonah is that the sailors have enough sense and fear of God to not really want to kill someone who says they are one of God’s followers. But God keeps them where he needs them by making the sea rage against them more and more.

Finally, the sailors get it and figure it out and they pray out to Yahweh, asking for forgiveness for what they are about to do to Jonah, even though Jonah basically requested they throw him overboard. The sailors also acknowledge God’s authority and power that was demonstrated in the raging storm and the levels of intensity and how it stopped as soon as Jonah went into the ocean

The sailors actually made vows to God. So they may have become God followers or they may have just added Yahweh to their list of gods

God has the patience to wait you out and the power to bring you to Himself

The Bible talks about God’s lovingkindness

The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.

And rend your heart and not your garments " Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.

Jonah gave his life up because he knew he was the cause of the storm and God was punishing him and his travels. He thought he needed to die as his sentence for disobedience. Jesus, on the other hand, knew he was completely innocent as to any crime at all. God’s grace was demonstrated by God sending the fish to swallow Jonah and most importantly for many people, on the cross

Conclusion

God does not let Jonah off the hook that easy, even though we picture Jonah being dumped into the ocean and the storm stops. Verse 17 is a transition verse that moves Jonah from the ship to the fish and really moves him closer to God.

As you run yourself into the ground sprinting away from God, he can keep a nice steady pace behind you. He knows you will tire soon and that he is the only one that can give you complete rest from everything.

God uses the storm to bring Jonah to Himself And he brings certain storms to your life to get your attention as well. But once you stop running the storms will stop.

Action: Look at any storms in your life now. Or Don’t be surprised by any that come up after you disobey God’s will. If you are a Christian, you are a follower of Yahweh, the maker of heaven and Earth.

Closing Prayer

Why would foreigners say, “Where then is their god?,” When our God is in heaven, having done what he wished. Their own idols, however, are of silver and gold, the work of human beings. They have a mouth, yet cannot speak; eyes, yet cannot see; ears, yet cannot hear; a nose, yet cannot smell; hands, yet cannot feel; legs, yet cannot move. With their throats, they cannot make a sound.

May their makers become just as they are; so too, those who trust them. ()