Praying Prophet

Introduction

If I asked you this morning, “Do you believe in prayer?”, I am sure that most of you would raise your hands. But if I also asked you when and why do you pray? Some may say that they pray every morning as part of a spiritual discipline in order to properly start their day. Others, if they were to be honest, would say that they only pray when they are in trouble, or when they need to make a big decision or take an important test.

In our current series, Jonah, a treatise on the Sovereignty of God, we might ask, “If God is sovereign over everything, do my prayers even matter?” “Do they change anything?” Though these are great questions, the scripture makes it clear that somehow God has even included our prayers in His sovereign plan, so though this is a mystery, we are commanded to pray, and expect God to answer.

So, what is prayer and why should we do it? Basically the summation of scripture informs us that prayer is a humble act on our part where we commune with the creator and sustainer of the universe in worship, confession, and petition, in order that He may hear us, receive our worship, forgiveness us, and provide an answer to our request.

If that is the case, often we don’t pray because we refuse to humble ourselves and recognize our need for God, it’s as if we say, “...everything seems to be going well, so I will let you know God if that changes”. Than on the flip side, there are times we don’t pray because we feel so guilty for our sins that we believe that we don’t deserve the right to come before the one whom we have offended by our actions, and somehow we believe the lie that we are too far gone to enter God’s presence, and convince ourselves that He will not receive us or hear us. So what does this have to do with Jonah?

When we left Jonah last week, he was in a rather precarious place. The prodigal prophet had been caught by God and is presently in the belly of a great fish. So from what we learned last week, Jonah has no one to blame but himself, and for all intensive purposes, he deserves to suffer at the disciplining hand of God, right? Well somehow, Jonah seems to come to his senses and somehow thinks that God, the one from whom he attempted to run, wants to hear from him in prayer…how so? That’s what we will investigate this morning as we expose the text from Jonah 2, and see the Praying Prophet in action.

Text: Jonah 2

Main Idea: Because God Has chosen to hear the prayers of His people, we, as His people, must fervently cry out to Him in humble expectation of Him answering those prayers.

1. Fervent Prayer Acknowledges Who God is (1)

a) God is the Covenant Keeping God (transcendence)

Transcendence - the fact that God is distinct from His creation and far above it, yet creation is always dependent on God.

It is the reality of God‘s transcendence that provides the platform for His ability to keep His covenant. Since there are no hindrances, no competitors, not even our sin or the supernatural powers of evil can prevent God from keeping His covenant promises. This gives us hope, just as someone who is outside of danger is able to help the ones in danger.

LORD (Yahweh) is the self existing God of the covenant (steadfast love - v. 8), for we read in Genesis 17 the following:

Genesis 17:1–5 ESV

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

b) God is the Personal Preserving God (immanence)

Though God is transcendent, He is also immanent, in that He, answered me (v. 2) and He, heard my voice (v. 2) and answers in time and space.

God is where we are, He is not some far removed power or force that has no personal interest in what is going on.

Psalm 46:1–3 ESV

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

2. Fervent Prayer Acknowledges Who We are (2-6)

I called out to the LORD - the idea is one who knows who God is, and who and where he is, and cries out in utter desperation for help. The grammar of the phrase denotes a mood of reality. Jonah knows what he must do!

a) We are a distressed people (v. 2)

Distress - an oppressive state both physically and mentally. Unable to think and act rationally. To be pulled apart mentally and physically, an aspect whereby one is stretched to the limit holistically.

The best place to be when we pray is the realization that we do not have the capability to navigate our situation on our own!

b) We are a helpless people

Jonah sees his situation as beyond his ability to do anything to get out of it, he is under the disciplining hand of God Almighty!

Phrases like:

you cast me into the deep (v. 3)

all your waves and billows passed over me (v. 3)

I am driven away from your sight (v. 4)

c) We are a hopeless people

As distress and helplessness closes in, the possibility of any hope to escape is shattered.

Listen as Jonah describes his hopeless situation:

v. 5 - “The waters closed...”

v. 6a - “I went down to the land...”

3. Fervent Prayer Acknowledges God’s Plan to Save (7-9)

One of the reasons which we will find out later, that Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, was the truth that God desires to save people, and not just one ethnic group but people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Jonah looked on the Ninevites as those deserving God’s wrath.

a) God’s plan to save does not include idols

Idols are not just those things that we worship officially, but are those things that we turn to naturally for help outside of the eternal God. (v. 8)

Psalm 20:7 ESV

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Note that as Jonah’s life was fainting away, he remembered the Lord, and his prayer came into God’s holy temple. (v. 7)

Note that Jonah says that these idols are vain, and as a result, the one who turns to them, forsake their hope of steadfast love. (v. 8)

b) God’s plan to save includes both justice and mercy

Jonah was experiencing God’s just discipline and yet His great mercy is seen as he is preserved in the belly of a great fish (yet you brought up my life from the pit) - v. 6

The very idea of the temple (v. 7), illustrates the reality of both justice and mercy. For it was in the temple (tabernacle in the wilderness), that the innocent sacrificial lamb was slain for the guilty sinners of Israel, thus allowing God’s mercy to be poured out on His people rather then His wrath.

This same reality was seen in Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the Messiah, who came to this earth, lived a sinless life, and was despised and reject by sinful men, and was crucified on the cross, bearing our sin, the innocent for the guilty, enduring the wrath of God for our behalf. Through repentance of our sin, and faith in His finished work on the cross, we become sons of God, whereby God grants us His mercy instead of His wrath.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 Peter 2:21–25 ESV

21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

c) God’s plan to save results in exclusive worship

As a result of God’s mercy and grace, Jonah offers worship to God

I remembered the Lord - to make known, profess, praise (v. 7)

I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you - a thank offering from the OT was a part of worshipping Yahweh (v. 9)

what I have vowed I will pay - again, an example of worship denoting the value of the one in which the promise is made and must be fulfilled! (v. 9)

Salvation belongs to the LORD! - an emphatic declaration of exclusivity, setting God apart from all others. (v. 9)

Worship is always apart of those who have received God’s Mercy and Grace and not His wrath.

Psalm 57:9–11 ESV

9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. 10 For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. 11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

So What?

What is our view of God?

Is God just a impersonal force or someone who is far off and not clued in? or...

Is He personal, powerful and sovereign over everything?

What is our view of ourselves?

Is it self-sufficient, only needing help in extreme emergencies? or...

Is it so demeaning that you feel you can’t talk to God because you sin is so great that He won’t hear you? or...

Do you see yourself as needy, unable to do anything apart from God and know that He is ready and willing to draw near, hear, and answer?

How does the fact that God is a saving God affect our prayers?

Are our prayers more about our felt needs and less about God’s will in our growth spiritually, and the salvation of others?

Do you find yourself envying the world rather then praying for its salvation?