God's Unwavering Mercy

Jonah 2 CSB

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish: I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice. When you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, and the current overcame me. All your breakers and your billows swept over me. And I said, “I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once more toward your holy temple. The water engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. I sank to the foundations of the mountains, the earth’s gates shut behind me forever! Then you raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God! As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love, but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Introduction

A whale of a tale

Change in literary genre (psalm/prayer)

Mercy goes beyond justice

ra-hum

Psalm 111:4 CSB

He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and compassionate.

God’s Mercy Has Reaches Us Where We Are (v.1)

Explanation

Now. Finally. After all this time. Huh. The storm didn’t do it. The sailors didn’t do. Even be expose (by the lots) didn’t do it. Finally the prophet prays.

It is funny to see what what finally motivates the prophet to pray. Verse 2 reveals to us that it was Jonah’s distress that moved him from his hard heart disposition to a place of humility.

A.

Isn’t that true though? How many times have we found ourselves being moved from “self-sufficiency” to “dependency” on God because life has put us in the full nelson and tried to make us tap out? Fact of business it is very plausible that there is somebody in here now or tuning in online that may be feeling this way right now.

I want to say to you “don’t trip, there is hope”.

E.

Not only is Jonah in distress, he is also in disobedience. Remember, Jonah had just been thrown overboard because he would have rather die than do what God had commanded for him to do. (Jonah prays and God answers)

It was right in the midst of his willful disobedience that God commanded a whale to persevere the life of the disobedient one. What does this say to us about the grace of God?

Application

(Notice the application in woven in the explanation)

Illustration

Cross Reference

Romans 5:8 CSB

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God’s mercy will meet us right where we are.

Transition

Our theological disposition is that God is omnipresent. Therefore when we say that “God meets us where we are”, this is really just to moment that we’ve come to realize God’s protect and provision. Because is all reality...........

God’s Mercy Has Always Been There (v. 7)

Jonah 2:7 CSB

As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.

Explanation

In this section of this prayer/psalm Jonah remembers the Lord and finally concedes to what he was commanded to do in the first place. It took for his life to be slowly drifting away in order for him to conclude that Yahweh was right.

Application

Sometimes there are so many things grappling for our attention. Sometimes there are so many different competing thoughts in our heads but somehow suffering has the ability to cause us to focus on what really matters.

Illustration

Anxiety and suffering kind be good in the right context. (fight or flight. deadlines)

Cross-reference

Joshua 4:1–7 CSB

After the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua: “Choose twelve men from the people, one man for each tribe, and command them: Take twelve stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.” So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe, and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes, so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ you should tell them, ‘The water of the Jordan was cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s water was cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.”

from Egypt to the promised land

the priest carried the ark=God’s provision

the stone=remembrance

There is one thing that we can’t overlook in both Joshua and Jonah, and that is God’s sovereignty over nature (land, water, whale, death). God is sovereign over all the elements and He uses them to display His grace, mercy, and provision to His people.

Romans 8:28 CSB

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Application

When we look back over our lives we can see that God’s mercy has been pursuing after us, even in times when we didn’t see nor acknowledge it.

Transition

The same mercy that has pursed and kept us, it the same mercy that will lead us.

God’s Mercy Will Lead Us

Jonah 2:9 CSB

but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Explanation

Foxhole prayers.

Jonah 2:10 CSB

Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Explanation

Once again we encounter God’s sovereignty over nature. It is at this moment that the whale did what the sailor couldn't do and what Jonah refused to do, and that was getting him in the right direction.

Let us remember that God doesn’t need Jonah to save the Nineveh. God is including Jonah in the process but what Jonah is failing to realize it that he too in a process. God’s mercy is leading Jonah to the only true place of safety, and that’s in the presence of Yahweh (God), the very place he’s trying to flee. Will Jonah ever realize that?

Application

God’s mercy has pursued after us in a multiplicity of ways. Just go back to the stones and see.

God isn’t forcing obedience on us instead He constantly reminds us of His care for us by giving us mercies after mercies.

Illustration/Story

My car accident.

Closing/Celebration