Deliverance from Adversity

In Jonah chapter one, God called his prophet to preach to the Ninevites. Assyrians were barbaric people whom Jonah did not want God to have compassion on. So instead of doing his duty, Jonah attempts to flee from the presence of God to Tarshish. He hops aboard a boat and sails the Mediterranean only to be caught up in a windstorm. After the crew determines the windstorm occurred on account of Jonah’s running from the Lord, they reluctantly cast him overboard, where Jonah is swallowed by a great fish. Remember that Jonah’s circumstances were a result of his own actions. Had he been obedient, he would not have gone into the sea. But even in the midst of trouble by his own hand, God shows up to provide deliverance for his prophet.

Chapter two places Jonah in time out. He’s got some thinking to do. We should recognize the fact that Jonah was not sitting in the belly of this fish writing down this prayer. I’m certain this was written after the fact. After all, did the fish also swallow some papyrus, a writing utensil, and a functioning lantern? Or did Jonah have these things tucked into his cloak? Jonah is now in isolation. It is dark, it probably smells bad, and Jonah may not be the only thing in this fish’s stomach. He has nothing to do but think and pray.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where it felt like the walls were closing in and there was no way out? Have you ever been in a situation where there was nothing you could do but think and pray? This is where Jonah is. What we see in Jonah chapter two is structured like a psalm, and in it he is thanking God for delivering him from certain death.

Jonah 2:1–2 NASB95

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, “I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.

Jonah recognizes that the fish is God’s answer to Jonah’s cry for help. The sailors threw him overboard at his request, then it’s like Jonah has a change of heart and asks God to deliver him. Do you ever get the idea that the fish swallows Jonah almost instantly when we read chapter one? I don’t think it happened that way. Listen to how he describes his descent into the sea.

Jonah 2:3–6 NASB95

“For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me. “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head. “I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.

I think we get the idea that Jonah was thrown into the water and was rather quickly swallowed up by this fish. But based on his words here in chapter two, it would seem the process was a bit longer. He talks about seaweed wrapping around his head and descending to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars would be his prison forever. This seems to communicate more than a splashing around on the surface for a minute and then being swallowed by a fish. Remember this is in the midst of stormy waters in the middle of the ocean, not a swimming pool on a nice summer day. The waters are working against him, forcing him beneath the surface.

I’m a guy who likes to push my limits. I think most men do. It is probably part of being a man. We have a tendency to think we can jump higher, run faster, and go farther than our bodies will actually allow us to go, but I think God wired us that way. We like to push the limits of human achievement. One thing I like to do when in a pool is swim as far as I can underwater in a single breath. In the neighborhood pool back home, I could make it from one end to the other in a single breath. I tried the same thing here at the city pool. I might have made it 3/4 of the way. That doesn’t even come close.

It is in moments of desperation that we find we call on God the most. Even when we are in situations that we are responsible for. I was sixteen years old when I first saw the inside of a jail cell. I was in over my head. I was not going home for the first time in my life. I was the only person responsible for what was happening to me. In the course of a night I had lost everything important to me. I was foolish. As I went through the intake process and got my new uniform, a pillow, and sheets for my fire retardant mattress, I was taken to the fifth floor and escorted to my new home where I would spend the next four months. I didn’t give God much thought when I was in high school. I took him for granted. I was a cultural Christian, but as the door of my cell shut behind me, my desperation caused me to call out to God for help. And over the ten months that followed, he did.

I received countless cards and letters from family members and people I never met saying they were praying for me. My parents and older brother visited every week. I watched my parents fight for me in the courtroom. These were all things I did not appreciate the gravity of then, but mean the world to me now. God used the people who were already in my life to show me his love and care even when I only wanted him to bail me out of trouble. Little did I know that God was planting the seeds of true salvation that would take root and blossom four years later.

Jonah 2:7 NASB95

“While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.

In one of my darkest hours, the God I had little regard for heard my prayer, and he will hear yours.

The two most important verses in this chapter are eight and nine.

Jonah 2:8–9 NASB95

“Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.”

Those who regard vain idols has those who worship false gods in mind, but it also includes taking one’s eyes off of God and onto something else regarded as God. When we place our hope in something other than God, we place it in something vain or empty. Jonah took his hope off of God and placed it in his own ability to outrun God, which is futile because God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at all times. There is nowhere one can go and escape God’s presence.

Psalm 139:8 NASB95

If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

Nobody outruns God, but if we place our hope in anything outside God, we forsake steadfast love. But if we respond to God’s steadfast love through authentic worship, we will receive it.

In our darkest hours, we can still throw ourselves on the mercy of God, who always shows steadfast love to his children.

Sometimes we are the creators of our own circumstances. Sometimes we are the victims of our circumstances. In either case, when we feel the walls closing in and the world grows dark, we can throw ourselves on the mercies of God because he always shows steadfast love for us. Jonah learned that even though he tried to run, he was not outside of God’s providential care.

In verse nine, Jonah pledges two things in light of the truth he has discovered. We have now discovered what is true. Because God has continually shown his steadfast love for us, we can throw ourselves on his mercy, even in the darkest hours of our own doing. He will rescue you. Now we discover what to do.

Continue to foster your relationship through authentic worship.

The first thing Jonah said he would do is offer sacrifices with a voice of thanksgiving. For Jews in the Old Testament, sacrifice was a regular part of religious observance. Not every sacrifice involved animals, but many of them did. The sacrificial system taught Israel the consequences of transgression, but also taught them a lesson in humility. They were dependent on God to be merciful and gracious by honoring the sacrificial system he established for them.

Today, you and I are not called to make sacrifices in the same way as they did in the Old Testament, but we are called to continue to make sacrifices as we prioritize faithful service to God over everything else.

Romans 12:1 NASB95

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Obedience requires sacrifice. It costs us something to follow Christ and that price reminds us of the price he paid to purchase our pardon and bring us into fellowship with the Father. The rest of Romans 12 presents a picture of what it looks like to commit yourself to faithful service. Read it this afternoon taking note of all the instructions the apostle Paul gives to the church in Rome. The way we live our lives in community with one another and the way we live outside these walls matters. May we pay careful attention to how we walk with the Lord.

Commit to fulfilling that which you have already promised.

The second thing Jonah said he would do is pay that which he has already vowed. Jonah answered the call to prophesy on behalf of God until the call required him to do something he was not willing to do. He walked away from his vow. Here, he is recommitting himself to doing what he had already committed to do. Is there something God called you to do that you have walked away from? Are you walking through a storm in your life as a result?

I want to end with a song that I think helps capture the message of this chapter.