Finding God in the Depths

Happy Mum, Struggling Mum

Today is mother’s day. A day to celebrate these wonderful women in our lives, who have done an amazing job making us who were are today. For those of you who are mothers, thank you for everything you do.

Now when you think of motherhood, I wonder what image comes to mind. If you scroll through Facebook, particularly on a day like today, you’ll find lots of happy images where mother’s are photographed with their children and there are smiles all around. It reminds us of the joy of motherhood. And motherhood is a joyous thing. You get to watch your children grow up and you share lots of really happy memories. You laugh as they have their little cute moments, making innocent mistakes as the grow. It really is beautiful.

But there is another side to motherhood, and perhaps this is the dominant image that comes to mind when you think about motherhood. You see, for all those cute moments, there are a lot of struggles.

When you have infants, the sleeping and eating issues can be all consuming for your life. As they grow, the struggles might change, but the struggle can be just as real. A constant guilt can be hanging over you - am I doing enough for my child?

It is enough to drive many mothers into some very dark places. At times, it might fall into the area of depression. But even if it isn’t depression as such, the struggle can be very real and the darkness intense.

I’ve just painted two pictures of motherhood. I think very often, the happy mum image and the struggling mum image can co-exist in a way that doesn’t immediately seem to make sense, but it does.

Now this morning, I want to spend a bit of time thinking about these darker times. Because sometimes when we understand what is happening during these times, that we see a much bigger picture of what is going on. When you’re in the midst of this darkness, it might not seem quite as clear cut, but I want to show you this morning, that God is doing something very special, and what he does will change everything.

What I’m going to discuss will apply to mothers, but it will also apply to anyone who finds themselves in a dark place.

And let’s face it, to varying degrees, everyone will have some dark days.

As Christians, we often don’t know what to do with these. After all, we’re told to rejoice in the Lord always - and so it can almost feel wrong to have feelings of depression.

So what do we do during these difficult times?

Well, this morning, I’m going to offer some reflections from Jonah, but I don’t want you to hear me trying to minimise what you’re going through. The dark days are real. So if you’re in the middle of them now, then I hope you can see my reflections this morning as hope for something to come from this. If you’re reflecting on times in the past, then allow this message to help you see how you can allow those times to shape what you’re doing now.

Jonah depths

Okay, so this morning we’re in Jonah 2, and what we’re going to find is that when we’re talking about Jonah’s depth of darkness, this is not just a metaphorical dark place. We’re of course going to be talking about a very literal deep place and very literal dark place.

Now last week I gave the context of what I’m talking about - but because it’s such a great story, let’s do a really quick recap of the first chapter of Jonah.

Chapter 1 started with God speaking to Jonah and telling him to go to Nineveh and preach against them. Now just to put that task into perspective, Ninevah is the capital of Assyria, who at the time of Jonah, were quickly becoming the world super power with a reputation for great atrocities.

Well, our friend Jonah got a bit spooked by such a request, and so he runs the other direction.

He boards a ship but out at sea a violent storm hits. Eventually, at Jonah’s own request, the sailors throw Jonah into the water - where he sinks, very literally to the deep dark waters.

But in the very last verse of that first chapter, we get the final action which makes this story famous - Jonah is swallowed by a giant fish, and is there for three days and three nights.

What was it like in there for him? Well, I’m imagining not very good. Was he conscious the whole time? Well, we’re not actually told too much.

Essentially, what we’re told is what we get in chapter 2. And that is, that Jonah recalls the prayer he made while in the belly on the fish. So, for at least part of the time, he must have been conscious enough to be praying to God.

The prayer

And so chapter 2 becomes a prayer for us. And what we see, is some very honest thoughts coming from Jonah.

The words he gives are actually reminiscent of many of the Psalms that we read. There is a very similar sort of language, which is perhaps not surprising, because as a Jewish prophet, you’d expect him to be quite familiar with the Psalms.

You don’t have to read too many Psalm before you realise that speaking your mind freely before God is done quite frequently.

You see, somewhere along the line we’ve seemed to learn that we have to be careful what we say to God. To blame God for something, or to complain about what has happened feels like blasphemy.

That’s not to say that God necessarily is to blame - but you know what? Your prayers don’t actually have to be one hundred percent theologically accurate. Your prayers aren’t a theological essay - rather they are you expressing yourself to God.

Don’t try to formulate the words God thinks you want. After all, he knows what you’re thinking anyway, so to express anything different is pointless anyway. It essentially misses the point of prayer. If you’re not being honest, I’m not really sure you can even call it praying.

Well, Jonah describes being hurled into the depth. In vivid language, he describes the currents swirling around him and the waves and breakers crashing over him.

You get a sense of the distress that he is feeling.

But here’s the thing. As you open up with your honest feelings towards God, something happens.

You start to see.

Now, unless you’ve experienced something like this, it might be difficult to really understand what’s going on. But there is a sense in which in the midst of the darkness, light can be found.

If you remember back, this is similar to what I was describing on Palm Sunday. If you recall, I reflected on the clarity the crowd had on that day when they gazed upon Jesus - when praise was the most natural thing, even though things were chaotic.

Just look here in Jonah 2:4, it almost doesn’t make sense. It says that he has been banished from God’s sight, but yet in the very next line of that same verse he says: “yet I will look again towards your holy temple”.

You see, here’s the thing. In that dark place, when we cry out to God, God answers and we see, it’s not him that pushing us down. He’s holding out his hand and says, I’m here for you.

And he will save us.

Now if we keep going after verse 4, he’s just put his mind back on God’s Holy temple. The next two verses continue describing the troubles.

The water has engulfed him. He’s in the deep. He has seaweed wrapped around his head. His right down where the roots of the mountains are. You might almost say he has literally hit rock bottom.

But the second half of verse 6 says: “But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit”.

You see the tone of this prayer starting to shift.

From the utter chaos and distress, things start to improve.

Now it is worth pointing out that in some ways, from the perspective of Jonah, nothing would have physically seemed to have happened with regards his rescue until the very last verse when he actually is rescued.

In other words, until that fish actually vomits out poor Jonah on dry land, the entire time Jonah would have remained in the dark. He wouldn’t have known where he was or what was about to happen.

But yet, despite that saving action still yet to take place, his prayer increasingly turns to the fact that he will be saved.

Our salvation

Now it’s worth pausing here a moment and thinking about our own situation.

You see, here’s the thing. Many of you have been in situations where you have been really struggling. Quite likely you have called out to God, but yet your struggles remain.

In the moment, it might be tempting to think that either God can’t save you or doesn’t want to. Now, as I mentioned before, whatever you’re thinking - say it to God with all honesty. But the way that God chooses to save us from our struggles, and even the timing he chooses to do it will be in what ever way and what ever time he deems best. We might not understand that, in fact, we may never fully understand why he’s done things in the way he has, but generally when we look back in hindsight, we will see that God was very gracious in the way he acted.

So if you’re in the midst of a struggle, hang in there. God is there. God has the power to save. And God will help you.

The choice

In verses 8 and 9, Jonah can essentially see things for what they really are. He can see that really you have a choice of two.

On the one hand he says: “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them”.

In other words, this first choice says - you can very well try to do the things you want to do, but you’re only turning away from God’s love.

But there’s another choice - the one that Jonah finally agrees to do. He says in verse 9: “But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you”

In other words. Rather than doing things your own way, you can choose to do things God’s way. And as a result, rather than turning your back on God, you actually get to move into his presence. You get to experience his saving ways.

And this is what happens when you honestly turn to God in prayer. The clarity is not always in exactly the way things will happen - but there is clarity in what we can do.

You can try to do it you own way - or you can do it God’s way. The clarity you will see, is that doing it God’s way is so much better.

When we do it God’s way - we are going with the only one who can truly bring salvation. Because as Jonah reminds us - “salvation comes from the Lord”.

Jonah’s rescue

And so we come to the last verse of the chapter where Jonah has a very literal salvation to his very dark situation. Verse 10 tells us that the Lord then commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

It’s an amazing picture. It’s a literal expression of what many of us figuratively feel that we go through. For Jonah it would have been a clear cut moment. For us, it might be a more gradual process of seeing change happen. However any particular scenario resolves will vary - but what we can be assured is that God is a God who is in the business of saving.

Mission

Now, here’s the amazing thing. When we dwell on God during these dark times - not only do we start to see light at the end of the tunnel. But so often through these dark times, we are put in a position where we are better able to serve God in seeing his purposes on earth.

Now I’m not necessarily saying that God makes the struggles occur so we can do mission - although we don’t always know exactly why God allows suffering - but we do know that very often God can use that suffering in a way that we see God name glorified.

Jonah and mission

In the case of Jonah, it is worth noting that the reason for his dark moment is actually known. It’s because Jonah was running away from God in the first place after God wanted him to go on a particular mission.

So I do need to be a little careful in my application of us finding mission out of our suffering.

So let me stick with Jonah just for a moment. For him, the darkness was a opportunity to realise that even in his attempt to escape, God will save him out of his folly and a God that will be that good to him despite his stupid decisions - is a God worth following.

And so at the end of verse 9 we hear him say: “what I have vowed I will make good”.

Now, quite likely, whatever dark times you find yourself in, it’s perhaps likely that it isn’t caused because you’ve been running from the task God has given you.

But yet, I want to suggest that as we come out of these dark times, in a similar way to Jonah, we have become witnesses to God’s amazing saving acts on our lives, and as a result we see how this love of God is for all people to experience.

We’ve experienced this love, but yet we know that so much of the world are still suffering. Shouldn’t we just naturally want others to know that it’s not God who’s pushing them down, but God who is reaching his hand out and saying - I can save you!

God has rescued you. And he wants you to show others that they can be rescued to.

The sad reality is that so much of the world are completely lost in their sin. Their lives have become so caught up in the ways of the world, often to the point that they don’t even know that what they are doing is wrong. And they have lost sight of God. They have lost sight of the true source of love.

The sin in their life is entangling them. But there is hope for them.

They can be pulled out.

You’ve experienced it - so let them know this hope.

The path out of the darkness is not just us seeing the light, but it should also be a path to seeing amazing opportunities to show others that there is hope.

Conclusion

When we’re in the midst of the depth of darkness, being on mission is probably the most distant thing from our mind. But yet, that darkness can often be preparation for us to actually be really effective in the way we share the good news.

If you’re in the middle of feeling like the breaking waves keep crashing over you and that you are just sinking - then what I want you to hear this morning is that God wants you to cry out to him. He wants you to be honest, even if this means saying harsh things against God. But in the process of being honest, to allow God to speak to you as well. Because you will find a God that wants to help you through this time. And a God that actually can make a real difference.

But for those of you who have come out of some dark times, give yourself time to reflect on those times so that you remember the goodness God showed you. Remember that trusting in God works. Remember that God is a God who saved.

But also remember that there are countless people out there who are so desperate for help. And allow that experience to shape the way you speak to people.

Because God can use those experiences to help you share the wonderful news of the gospel.

This is mothers day, and for many of you, it’s going to be a real joyous time. But for others, it might be a difficult time for a variety of different reasons. Even if it is a joyous time though, you may very well remember many of the struggles that you went through as a mum. Remembering that at times you felt helpless and insecure.

But there was a God that helped you through those times. And so this morning I just want you to know that though things are often tough, God love you, and he is powerful to save.

So let me pray...