Prayers in the Deep--Jonah 2
Jonah: A Prophet with an Attitude Problem • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Last week we met a prophet by the name of Jonah. He had been commanded by God to go to the people Assyria in the city of Nineveh. Instead Jonah went the other way in rebellion against God. He went to the port of Joppa to get away from God and sail to Tarshish. Yet, as we saw last week there is no place we can go that we can get away from God and Jonah found that out when a storm arose. Despite his rebellion and sin, God showed Himself to the sailors on this ship and when Jonah was thrown overboard to stop the storm their lives were changed. So Jonah has been hurled into the sea. What is going to happen next? Well we pick up with the last verse of chapter 1.
God’s salvation Despite...
God’s salvation Despite...
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.
God could have easy allowed Jonah to die. He had rebelled against Him and had tried to run away from Him, He could have just taken him home. But God still wants to use him for a mission.
Despite our failures, our sins, God still wants to use us.
God offers salvation to Jonah despite his rebellion.
He prepared or appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah.
Many children’s books will talk about Jonah and the whale. The fact is we don’t know what kind of fish (shark) or whale it was. One LXX translates it as sea monster. Regardless of what it is, God is the one who prepared or appointed it. Whether God spoke at the moment and it appeared in the sea for that time or whether God had directed it to be right there for such a time as this. God allowed the fish to be there to save Jonah.
Charlie Payne with the G.O.D. trucks
Maybe you have been or you will be put in a situation where God has prepared you to save someone’s life.
Maybe someone has been placed your place to save your life at some point.
This great fish was prepared and appointed for Jonah. And the fish appeared and swallowed Jonah.
He was there for 3 days and 3 nights. Either full or part days. Remember in the Jewish day ends at sunset.
We know Jonah was truly swallowed as Jesus quotes this event in the New Testament.
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
He prayed from the belly of the fish. Jonah doesn’t know how long he was going to be in there. He didn’t have a way to write this down until after the event, but he had to Stop running.
Chip Ingram recently wrote a letter and mentioned a mentor in his life. “One of my mentors once told me that God ordains our steps, but He also ordains our STOPS. It think I’ve learned afresh that we must pause, stop, and ponder the beauty of God’s creation. “
What events in your life has God used to make you stop. Sometimes it is to stop running from God. Maybe it is so you take a Sabbath.
Jonah had been in Rebellion against God and while God could have had allowed him to die.
Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
God didn’t want Jonah to die. He still had a job to do and God was still going to use him. In chapter 2 we see his heart more humble for a time. He had been trying to run from God and God showed up and said, stop. Now he had plenty of time to think and pray.
Let us read this Psalm of Jonah and then look at it in detail.
Lament Psalm of Jonah
Lament Psalm of Jonah
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. 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. Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 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. “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. “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.”
Jonah 2:2 (ESV): “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
Jonah is in distress
Jonah is in distress
He was in peril on the sea and it lead to him being thrown into the sea. The sailors saw a miracle.
He is in distress, anguish as he is in the sea.
He had cried out to God in this distress and peril and God answered him. He cried out is the same Hebrew word used when describing the sailors back in chapter 1 when they were crying out to their gods.
This echoes many Psalms.
In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He delivered them out of their distresses.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses.
Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
When we are in a storm, God will answer us. Sometimes it is not in the way we might want.
God responded to Jonah. Jonah had been in rebellion to God, but God answered his prayer for salvation/redemption from certain death.
Out of the belly of Sheol
Sheol is the term for the grave. Sometimes it is translated as Hell in English, but in this context it merely means the grave.
Out of the grave, death. He was near death. He was near losing his life.
While this Prayer / Psalm is something he reflected on while in the fish and he wrote down after this event while he was in the sea before being swallowed he doesn’t know what is going to happen. Even after he is swallowed. He doesn’t know what is going to happen. He is one foot in the grave. He is close to death.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
In Verse 3 we have this description of the waters.
Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
He has been cast into the heart of the sea into the depths of the water.
If you have ever been in a situation where you could drown it is a scary situation.
For Jonah the waters are rising around him. He may not even know how to swim, many Israelites didn’t know how to swim since they were not really sea fairing people.
We see this picture of him drowning.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
Amplified Bible Chapter 2
Then I said, I have been cast out of Your presence and Your sight;
Had God left him? Had God abandoned him to drown and sink into the depths?
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
Jonah who had the very poor attitude and thought he could run to God was now crying out to Him and wanting salvation (physical redemption) from the seas.
Yet, now as he is in the fish and/or when he is writing this, he knows that God has not and did not forsaken him.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
He can once again see the temple in Jerusalem and worship there.
When God pulls you out of something or pulls you through something, worship Him. Praise His name!
Verses 5-6
Verses 5-6
English Standard Version Chapter 2
The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O LORD my God.
Jonah goes back to the memories of his drowning.
Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
The waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”
He is being surrounded by the waters. The deep or the Abyss is over him.
The seaweed is tangling around his head. It is dark, it is cold, he is underwater.
It says he descends to the tops of the mountains underwater.
Amplified Bible Chapter 2
I went down to the bottoms and the very roots of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever
He is beyond the point of no return. He cannot save himself.
Amplified Bible Chapter 2
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit and corruption, O Lord my God.
God brought him from the point of death. There was nothing Jonah could do to save himself. Last week there was nothing the sailors could do in their strength to save him. They didn’t want to throw Jonah overboard.
There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We are sinking as the hymn said “Deep in sin from the peaceful shore.”
There was nothing we could do to save ourselves. No amount of money, religion, church services can save us. Jesus Christ did the saving. We were like Jonah. Drowning. Then God...
Verse 7
Verse 7
English Standard Version Chapter 2
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the LORD,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
Jonah’s life was about to be gone.
Amplified Bible Chapter 2
When my soul fainted upon me [crushing me], I earnestly and seriously remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.
He is moments away from death. He is losing hope.
He remembers and calls onto the Great I AM!
Verses 8-9
Verses 8-9
English Standard Version Chapter 2
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
Both his nation (Israel—northern kingdom, and Judah) had gone to worthless idols. The sailors had regard to idols before their encounter with God. We will see what happens with Nineveh next week.
For this moment Jonah realizes the love and hope of God
Amplified Bible Chapter 2
But as for me, I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation and deliverance belong to the Lord
Jonah has made a vow and a promise to give Thanksgiving offering to God for his salvation! God had saved him.
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
“Thus says the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, “It is desolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: “Praise the Lord of hosts, For the Lord is good, For His mercy endures forever”— and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.
We do not have to be in a life and death situation, but we should be thanking God for His salvation. He has saved us from more than just physical death, but spiritual death.
Verse 10
Verse 10
English Standard Version Chapter 2
10 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Jonah was saved by this fish that God had appointed and after this season in the fish God speaks to the fish and vomits Jonah onto land. That is not the end of the story though.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Have you been in a situation where you desperately call out to God? I don’t think any of us have been thrown overboard into the middle of the ocean, but sometimes depression, addictions, mental anguish are just as bad if not worse than physical drowning. Be like Jonah and cry out to the LORD.