God Can fix Failures

Jonah - the Unwilling Prophet  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  21:36
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A Lifetime of Failure…Until Great Success

When he was 7 years old, his family was forced out of their home because of a legal technicality. He had to work to help support them.
At age 9, while still a backward, shy little boy, his mother died.
At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school, but his education was not good enough.
At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. Three years later his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took years to repay.
At 28, after developing a romantic relationship with a young lady for four years, he asked her to marry him. She said no. An earlier youthful love he shared with a lovely girl ended in heartache at her death.
At 37, on his third try, he was finally elected to Congress. Two years later he ran again and failed to be reelected. I should add it was about this time he had what some today would call a nervous breakdown.
At 41, adding additional heartache to an already unhappy marriage, his 4-year-old son died.
The next year he was rejected for Land Officer.
At 45, he ran for the Senate again and lost.
Two years later, he was defeated for nomination for Vice President.
At 49, he ran for the Senate again . . . and lost again.
Add to this an endless barrage of criticism, misunderstanding, ugly and false rumors, and deep periods of depression and you realize it’s no wonder he was snubbed by his peers and despised by multitudes, hardly the envy of his day.
At 51, however, he was elected President of the United States . . . but his second term in office was cut short by his assassination. As he lay dying in a little rooming house across from the place where he was shot, a former detractor (Edwin Stanton) spoke the fitting tribute I quoted at the top of this devotional. By now you know it was spoken of the most inspirational and highly regarded president in American history. Abraham Lincoln.
Charles R. Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Zondervan, 2007.

Failure

Failure. Have you ever considered you’re self a failure? Definition of failure: omission of occurrence or performance specifically: a failing to perform a duty or expected action, lack of success, or a falling short like a deficiency or crop failure. We’ve all felt like, some of us have to deal with our peers knowing that we’ve failed. It’s not a very easy pill to swallow. Does it have to end there, does that need to define who we are?
Last week as we left Jonah, he was a dismal failure. He tried to out run God and conspired with his shipmates to try to out-row Him too. Neither worked. Finally, those on board the ship tossed Him overboard into the storm-tossed sea. It appears that it is over for Jonah, but is it? Let’s continue the story by rejoining our text, Jonah 1:17–2:10.
Jonah 1:17–2:10 NLT
17 Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. 1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. 2 He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me! 3 You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves. 4 Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’ 5 “I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head. 6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death! 7 As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple. 8 Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God’s mercies. 9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.” 10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.
Even in his darkest moment, God had not left him. He was still there watching over Jonah. Jonah had tried to run from God, but God had not deserted him.

“And the Lord appointed...”

Jonah 1:17 NKJV
17 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.
I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of whales and all manner of “fishy” creatures depicted as what might have swallowed Jonah. The Bible says that God appointed a great fish. In other words, it was a creature specifically fashioned for the task the God had in mind. With the exception of the sperm whale, most whales have small throats, and are not capable of swallowing anything larger than fish or bite size pieces of meat. Baleen whales only eat small fish and krill. The largest whale in the world is a baleen whale. God created a special fish to protect Jonah. This fish was prepared, and lay ready under water close by the ship, that he might keep Jonah from sinking to the bottom, and save him alive, though he deserved to die.
Jonah probably didn’t view the fish as God’s grace, but it was. The fish was not punishment, it was a biological submarine prepared by God to sustain Jonah’s life.
In the beginning, I’m thinking that Jonah was probably resentful, like the poet who had the dream where
he noticed only one footprint in the sand during difficult times and later discovered “ ‘The times when only ONE set of footprints were made, My child, were the times I CARRIED you!’ ”
At this point Jonah really came to understand that God is a gracious God. Then Jonah prayed. Let’s look at the prayer a little close. It’s interesting the directions his prayer takes.
Jonah 2:2 NLT
2 He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!
You know as well as I do that we quite often don’t talk to God that much until we are in that “great trouble” like Jonah was and did. Jonah had finally realized that he was in great troubles. In the belly of that fish (if it’s built the way most fish are, you know that fishy smell.) and he describes it as the land of the dead, sheol, or hell as some versions use. He figures he’s as good as dead. Next phrase is almost an exclaim. You heard me! He was like any other mortal. He had been running from God. If we desert our friends or turn our backs on someone, both parties figure that that is pretty much the end.
Jonah finds out that it is not that way with God. “You Heard Me” God doesn't give up on Jonah just because he didn’t want to do God had instructed him to do. Jonah must have figured that his actions against God would be his undoing. God’s response amazed him.
Do you and understand as well that God is always here ready to bail us out if we screw up. I mean really screw up badly. He is ready to do for us just as He did for Jonah.
The NKJV reads
Jonah 2:3–4 NKJV
3 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. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
The Hebrew and the Septuagint puts the last part of vs 4 as a question instead of how it is written here. It more properly read this way.
Jonah 2:3–4 NET
3 You threw me into the deep waters, into the middle of the sea; the ocean current engulfed me; all the mighty waves you sent swept over me. 4 I thought I had been banished from your sight, that I would never again see your holy temple!
He really hadn’t realized yet that he was going to be saved. Instead he was bemoaning his circumstance. Hope had not yet established itself.
Jonah 2:5–6 NET
5 Water engulfed me up to my neck; the deep ocean surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the very bottoms of the mountains; the gates of the netherworld barred me in forever; but you brought me up from the Pit, O Lord, my God.
It sounds like that he has consigned himself to the bottom of the sea forever. Through most of this verse he suspects that this is the end.
Jonah 2:6–7 NET
6 I went down to the very bottoms of the mountains; the gates of the netherworld barred me in forever; but you brought me up from the Pit, O Lord, my God. 7 When my life was ebbing away, I called out to the Lord, and my prayer came to your holy temple.
Look at the dramatic up swing in his thoughts. He was in a very deep despair, but he still had a hope didn’t he. God has created each one of us with a hope that we can’t satisfy in any other way than to look to God for our help.
Psalm 46:1 NKJV
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
David many times was in depression and stress as we would say to the max.
Psalm 27:13 NKJV
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.
Jesus has told us,
Luke 22:32 NKJV
32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Jonah’s faith said, Yet I will look again towards thy holy temple. Even though he was perplexed, he was not completely in despair; in the depth of the sea he had this hope in him, as an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast.
Jonah 2:8–9 NET
8 Those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs. 9 But as for me, I promise to offer a sacrifice to you with a public declaration of praise; I will surely do what I have promised. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
This is a warning and instruction all at once here in vs 8. A mini sermon so to speak. The Hebrew word translated idols can also mean vanities (things not really worth your time, or only giving fleeting satisfaction), emptiness, or worthlessness. The Hebrew word for mercy is chesed. Apparently it is a kind of a hard word to translate into English.
In a general sense it may be observed that chesed describes: (1) when applied to God, His attitudes, relationships, and dealings with respect to men, and (2) when applied to men, the attitudes, relationships, and dealings of men with respect to one another. According to some, Jonah refers to the one true God Himself; according to others, he refers to God’s works of goodness and loving-kindness, which He reveals to all men
Verse 9 is to me, after all he has just been through, his declaration and promise to publicly declared God to everyone he meets and uphold his end of the bargain. He declares that he knows that he has been saved by the Lord.
God miraculously cared for Jonah. Even when he tried to outrun God and conspired with others to try to out-row God, he remained in the palm of God’s hand. And while he was in the belly of the fish, Jonah rested in the palm of God’s hand.
When I was a little boy, I would hold my father’s hand as we walked together. I was always amazed at how his large hand swallowed mine. How big and strong is our heavenly Father’s hand?
Scientists estimate that there are around a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Yet Isaiah 45:12 says they were made with His hand and Psalm 147:4 says that God knows exactly how many of them there are and that he calls them by name.
The oceans have a total volume of 322,280,000 cubic miles of water, yet Isaiah 40:12 says, that God measures the waters of the earth in His hand.
The earth is almost 8,000 miles around, with a total surface space of 196,950,000 square miles, yet in Psalm 95:4 we learn that God holds it in the palm of His hand.
Just a few seconds of meditating on these amazing facts can give us a new appreciation for God’s ability to accomplish what his grace motivates Him to do.

The Lord spoke...

Jonah 2:10 NKJV
10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
The God that “hurled the wind” and “appointed the fish,” commanded the fish to vomit him on the shore-and it did. Jonah stood on the dry land, cleaned himself up and began walking to Nineveh, where God told him to go in the first place.
Next week, we will rejoin Jonah on his journey, but before we dismiss this morning, I want to remind you that as it was with Jonah, it has been with others, and so it can be with you. Whatever difficulty you’re facing, just remember, God can fix failures.
You may feel like you are drowning in your problems. You may be down, but you are not out. As He did with Jonah, God is caring for you. God can fix failures. Failures to you are possibilities to God
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