"We Are A Lot Like Jonah – Running To God"

Jonah 1: 17 – 2:10

Remember when we left off last time the sailors had thrown Jonah into the raging sea. As soon as Jonah hit the water the violent sea was miraculously calmed. In verse 17 we read that God appointed a great fish to protect Jonah and we begin today with Jonah in the belly of the fish.

Now there have been a lot of attempts to discredit Jonah’s experience and pass it off as a "fish story". The Bible makes no attempt to answer the question of how Jonah could survive in the belly of the fish for 3 days. We are to accept it on faith. This was truly a miracle that God performed!! There is no doubt that the story of Jonah is a true literal happening. Our New Testament reading today contained a quotation from Jesus. "Just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights, so shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40). To discredit Jonah’s experience in the fish is to discredit Jesus’ own testimony and to discredit a portion of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are called to accept Jonah’s 3 day experience in the fish on faith and as a miracle from God!

Our text today is Jonah’s prayer. Jonah’s prayer took place in the fish, however we see that much of the prayer is stated in the past tense. This makes sense when we think about it. Jonah prayed from inside the fish but Jonah wrote down his prayer later in a poetic form later. Jonah wanted this to be a prayer that he and others would remember. Because the lessons it contained in Jonah’s prayer are far too valuable to forget.

We don’t know how long Jonah was in the fish before he prayed. Probably Jonah was barely in the fish before he began a serious prayer meeting. Others have suggested that Jonah was in the fish for three days and nights before he began to pray. It is my belief that the prayer recorded here is not the first prayer Jonah prayed. I say that because if Jonah was anything like me my first prayer would have been "HELP! or "Save me!" Although the pagan sea captain encouraged Jonah to pray while Jonah was still on the ship, there is nothing recorded in the Bible to indicate that Jonah prayed at that time. Regardless this is Jonah’s first recorded prayer and it is a very good one.

God had finally gotten Jonah’s attention. Jonah prayed and Jonah submitted his life to God’s will. Jonah was now willing to go to Nineveh and say whatever God wanted him to say. So what changed in Jonah’s life to make this complete reversal? Remember when Jonah was on the ship Jonah chose to die rather than to obey God by going to Nineveh.

We can also safely assume that Jonah prayed more earnestly and more sincerely than Jonah had ever prayed before in his life. Jonah cried out to God for help. We a lot like Jonah? We take things in our own hands. We go our own way as long as everything is going ok. But then, when the storms of life hit, when we are down and out, and when our hopes have bottomed out, we get serious about praying to God. But, fortunately, God is a loving God and God hears our prayers, even if we wait until the last minute. God is always there when his children call for help. Just like a father who picks up his child that has fallen; he wipes away the dirt and tears, holds them close, and tells them he loves them. The bruises and cuts may still be there, but we feel better knowing we loved and forgiven.

We can assume that as Jonah was swimming in the fish’s belly Jonah reflected upon the miracle that he was still alive. Jonah probably realized that God could have given him his wish and let him die but God in his mercy spared Jonah’s life. What about us do we use times like this to reflect on why God saved us?

Beginning in verse 2 Jonah is telling his story as he looks back over his experience and Jonah tells of his affliction in his prayer to the Lord

Notice the pain and desperation in Jonah’s words; "In my distress I called to the LORD" Jonah said "From the depths of the grave I called for help". Some translations have "sheol" for grave. Sheol was the place of the dead and is often referred to as a place separated from God. So you can see how desperate Jonah viewed the situation he found himself in. At first, he thought that God had given up on him and he was without hope. But there is a great lesson for us in verse 2; "I called to The Lord and He answered me". No matter what our circumstances are; No matter what we have done or not done; God is always eager to answer us when we call on Him. Jesus said "I will never leave you or forsake you."

In verse 3 Jonah acknowledges the sovereignty of God, You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. Underline in your mind the words "You" & "Your". Jonah knows that it wasn’t chance, circumstance, bad luck, or blind fate that caused his problem. Jonah knew His predicament was from God. Neither does Jonah blame the sailors; the sailors that threw Jonah overboard were merely God’s instruments of discipline and restoration. But Jonah understands and Jonah acknowledges that his deliverance had been directed by the Hand of God, who rules His creation.

In verse 4 Jonah said "I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' But remember Jonah was the one running away. We are a lot like Jonah in that when things go wrong our first impulse is to blame someone else or we blame God. But we can we should be like Jonah by turning to God and seek His presence when we find ourselves in a "kettle of fish". God loves us and is merciful and God will give us another chance if we will only look to Him.

In verses 5-6 Jonah describes the horror of his plight. "The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. These are just mere words to everyone but Jonah; but to Jonah, those words describe a very vivid terrifying memory. "The roots of the mountains" refers to the mountainous in the ocean. Jonah took a sober look at his situation Jonah is speaking of his eternal soul and Jonah speaks of the feeling that he was spiritually drowning and he was in prison. Again at the end of verse 6 Jonah praises God for saving him. "But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God."

What about us? Can we be like Jonah and give God the credit for getting us out of difficult situations or when we retell our story do we say "That was a close call" or "I was really lucky"

In verse 7, Jonah said "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Jonah cried out to the Lord from the worst imaginable situation. Can you imagine swimming in stomach acid for 3 days and nights? I suspect Jonah must have been totally exhausted from trying to remain afloat and awake. Again at the end of verse 7 Jonah praises God for hearing his prayer. If we call on The Lord we need to remember that we are His servants. Prayer is not calling on a genie to come out of a bottle when we pop the cork.

The "worthless idols" in verse 8, refer to Ninevhites. "Worthless idols" could also be translated, "vain, empty vanities". Sadly many people throw away any hope of salvation by creating substitutes for God. We may not think we are idolaters, yet idolatry is any worthless endeavor we engage in instead of trusting in God. Do we bowing to the idols of ambition, greed, comfort, pleasure and/or knowledge. Then Jonah mentions "the grace that could be theirs". Here Jonah is admitting that the Ninevhites were savable. Jonah re-enlists in God’s service and renews his commitment to his prophetic office in verse 9 with a song of thanksgiving. Jonah remembered that he owed God for his salvation. We need to remember that God calls the undeserving and saves those who respond. "God does not love us because of who we are or what we have done, but God loves us because of who He is"

Look at the phrase in verse 9 "Salvation comes from the Lord." "Salvation comes from the Lord" is the theme of the entire Bible. Salvation is a gift from God.

When we look at Jonah’s prayer we see that Jonah’s prayer is not a prayer for deliverance. Jonah’s prayer is a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for being delivered from certain death.

When God heard Jonah’s cry, God caused the fish to vomit Jonah on to dry land. We don’t know where the fish vomited him out, the Bible doesn’t say. My guess is that it was probably near Joppa, where Jonah had originally sailed from. Should that be the case it meant Jonah ended up right back where he began. I suspect there was a little bit of Divine humor in that. When we disobey God we find ourselves working hard, but going nowhere.

Jonah’s prayer is for those of us whose lives have been shipwrecked, those who are at the end of their rope, for those that the bottom has dropped out. Jonah’s prayer is for the ones that have lost a loved one, a job or for those who have experienced a marriage breakup. The point is this: When we find ourselves in these situations we like Jonah should remember who we are and we should pray because we have a God who loves us even when we mess up. God is a forgiving and merciful Father who loves His children even though we may have caused our own problems. That’s the kind of God we serve.

God uses situations to get our attention. When we are faced with difficult situations we have three choices: We can turn away from God; we can turn on God or we can turn to God.

Just as God rescued Jonah from the sea and the fish, he is waiting to rescue us when we run away from him and get into trouble. God doesn’t give up on us, even when we let him down. He gives us a second chance. For you see our God is the God of second chances. And we are like the line in the popular country music song "give me one more last chance"

Now that God finally had Jonah’s attention, Jonah did go to Nineveh and Jonah did prophesy as God had told him to.

We need to be like Jonah because when Jonah could not sink any lower Jonah took an honest look at his circumstances. Then Jonah took a serious look at himself. When Jonah did this he remembered who he was and he remembered the love, the forgiveness, and the power of The Lord. Jonah turned to the Lord and God forgave Jonah, delivered Jonah, and used Jonah. This is what we can learn from Jonah.

So the next time you are in a real jam and before you say "How can a loving God allow this to happen?" or "Where is God?" remember Jonah. Because God was right there with Jonah; God was protecting Jonah; and God was giving Jonah another chance to respond to Him.

Sometimes God needs to get our attention and sometimes God needs to protect us until we remember who we are and we remember that we are accountable to God. AMEN