Growth from within: Jonah's Psalm

Opening

Recap

Resistance to God

Experiencing God’s reach

Coming to terms

Peripheral effects (Sailors)

Ministry behind the ministry

OPENING QUESTION Formation of prayer

What are factors influenced your life of prayer?

Scripture

parents

culture/perception

agpeya

church

understanding of what prayer is

personal relationship with God

its important to consider what are the key influences on your life of prayer and who’s prayer life could you be influencing?

Intro Discussion

Jonah’s psalm plays a pivotal role in the book.

The story line could be completed without Ch 2 but it would be lacking in depth.

It shows Jonah’s partial change of heart that lead to obedience

Thanksgiving for his rescue by God and his personal experience of God’s mercy

Jonah’s overall personal growth

The psalm sets up the major irony of the book in that Jonah could receive God’s mercy despite his rebellion, but that he wanted to deny Nineveh from mercy.

Jonah’s psalm is a good example of Hebrew psalm-poetry as it is c/w literary style of psalms and OT scripture. Jonah serves as an example of what Biblical prayer is like.

i.e. using lines from the book of hours…they become our words

Jonah’s psalm, like other psalms of adversity, carry certain elements

A cry and God’s response to prayer

account of personal crisis

Divine rescue

a vow of praise and obedience

Prayer in the depths

Jonah 2:2–3 NKJV

2 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. 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.

Jonah 2:4–5 NKJV

4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head.

Jonah 2:6 (NKJV)

6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;

Sheol - life as a continuum

QUESTION: What is Sheol?

people in sheol were seen as separated from God

Psalm 88:3 NKJV

3 For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draws near to the grave.

Isaiah 38:18 NKJV

18 For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.

Its like being in the grave but alive…brink of death

Death in the OT was seen as a process rather than an event.

The further we move away from God, the more we take on the characteristics and nature of death.

One could still be living, yet resemble death.

YET, God has access to Sheol

Psalm 139:8 NKJV

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

The concept of Sheol as a process is important to grasp because it mirror the reality of our personal lives and struggles with prayer.

We are all at one point distant from God, taking on more characteristics of death than life

Feel that we are off His radar and can no longer ‘see His face’ and being removed from all other people (v.6)

Realize that our own actions and hardness of heart have brought us to a place of Sheol

But God is still present and there is hope!

Understanding Sheol is also important because it allows us to see the extent of God’s power and mercy because it can reach the depths of Sheol.

Jonah 2:6 (NKJV)

6 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.

The realization and experience of God’s mercy brings with it hope and a renewed sense of trust in the Lord. God’s Sovereignty over the worst of situations.

Jonah 2:7–9 NKJV

7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”

QUESTION: What is interesting about verse 8.

Verse 8 is interesting because it speaks to the irony of the book in which Jonah could receive mercy after changing his way but he didn’t want Nineveh to receive the same mercy in their own repentance.

Jonah’s Idol was his own desire

Turning from our idols open us up to the mercy of God

Theme of Salvation and repentance unfolding

Sailors in Ch 1

Jonah in 2

Nineveh in 3

the discussion of salvation between God and Jonah in 4