Jonah 2 July 3, 2011

Today, we’re continuing on in our study of the book of Jonah. I know, it’s a little book hidden in the midst of many other minor prophets. I also know that most of us probably know the basics of the story.

Sometimes, I’ve heard my children complain and say things like, “I don’t know why I should listen in class when we’re talking about Jesus feeding the 5000…I already know that story. I don’t need to pay attention about Noah…he had all the animals come into the ark and then it rained…so, what can I learn new.

As we cover the story of Jonah, I realize there is a tendency for each of us to want to check out because it is so familiar! However, I hope you’ll choose to dig in with me today as we look at a section of Jonah that I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anybody preach on or done anything more than just saying that Jonah had a change of heart while he was riding around in the great fish.

So far in this study, we’ve covered how God told Jonah to get up, go to Nineveh, and preach. We also covered four main points last week: God controls the weather, God’s people can try to hide,  God can reach people despite us, and God desires our obedience.

You probably noticed that I stopped with verse 16 in chapter 1 and didn’t “finish the chapter”. That’s because it’s not a very logical place for the chapter to end. You’ll probably notice if your Bible has titles in it, verse 17 is set apart and it may be tied to chapter two.

So, here’s one of the “extras” in the story of Jonah that isn’t covered in the children’s story version. The chapter and verse breaks are not part of the original Bible as God inspired it. Paul did not write letters to the churches with clunky chapter and verse divisions. For those of you who remember 8 track tapes…remember how sometimes the clicks between tracks was between the songs, and other times, it was right in the middle of what the artist was singing?

There is some evidence that as early as the thirteenth century that some people were working at breaking the Bible down into smaller segments. However, it did not gain full momentum until about 1550 when a much better system was proposed by a Catholic printer in Paris. For some reason, his version of breaking the Bible down was quickly accepted in several languages, and it has been largely unchanged up until today. So, this whole system of knowing what John 3:16 or 1 John 1:9 or Genesis 1:1 has some flaws in it as it was primarily one man’s perspective on how to do it.

At any rate, that’s why Jonah 1:17 probably fits better with Jonah two.

Looking at it in this manner allows us to start the chapter with God once again showing that He is in control by sending the big fish to swallow Jonah. This way, the same chapter ends three days later with God telling the fish to vomit Jonah out onto the land once again.

Jonah 1:17   And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 2:10   And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Jonah gets swallowed Jonah gets vomited…neither one great visuals! But, these are the bookends to Jonah’s prayer while he’s inside the fish.

On the one hand, I am a visionary “big picture” guy. As a church, I can see Goodfield Baptist full again, running VBS, running Sunday School, having a community garden in our back yard to minister to people, reaching out to young families with music and activities that interest them, doing cool things in conjunction with the school and with other organizations in the community, several of you leading Bible studies, and so on. BUT, I don’t get thrilled with figuring out who gets which garden plot, the detailed rules of how and what to plant, I don’t necessarily want to develop the spread sheet that tells who is going to tutor which kid on which day after school,  etc….

However, as I read the Scriptures, I seem to thrive on details and want to know more and more.

How far into the ocean did Jonah get?

Did he hold his breath well?

What kind of fish swallowed him?

How far did he go in the fish?

Had the boat been out to sea several days when the storm came up?

Could Duane have caught this fish?

What did Jonah eat while he was in the fish?

What did God use to cause the fish to throw up Jonah?

How did Jonah write out his prayers when he was inside the fish?

So, those are some of my thoughts as I read through these few verses.

However, we aren’t really told any details about his time in the belly of the fish. We know that he was there for at least parts of three days and three nights. We find out a few things from his prayer about his downward journey, but most of my questions won’t get answered until I get to heaven…if they’re even important enough to ask some day.

Let’s break this down in smaller sections of verses courtesy of Robert Stephens…that French printer.

Jonah 2:1   Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish,  2 saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me;

out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

1-2: We see here that God hears and responds to people when they call out to Him…even when they have been involved in great sin.  Even though he was safe in the belly of the fish, he was still in distress. I don’t know how many of you have almost drowned only to be swallowed by a big fish, but I’m willing to allow Jonah to be distressed in this situation…who knows if this fish is a friendly fish or not!!!

I know it’s a cliché, but this is a clear example of, It’s never too late for a U-turn! God answered…even though Jonah felt like he was in the grave…whether literally because of the depths of the fish in the ocean, or figuratively because he about died.

A popular song a few years ago by Third Day was titled, “Cry Out to Jesus”. The chorus and tag go like this:

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus

When you’re lonely
And it feels like the whole world is falling on you
You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus
Cry to Jesus

Where are you at? Do you need to cry out to Jesus? Are you in distress? Jonah provides us with this crystal clear picture that God will indeed hear us when we’re in distress and answer our prayers!

3       For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.

3. Jonah recognizes that God did indeed use the various aspects of the sea to get his attention. Think about the words here…they aren’t just that he slipped and fell in a little kid’s wading pool: CAST/HURRLED/THROWN, DEEP, HEART of the seas, FLOOD, SURROUNDED, WAVES, BILLOWS! These are all pretty intense words aren’t they!

4       Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’

4 although he was going down in the sea, Jonah still had hope that somehow he would be able to see the temple in Jerusalem again. Jonah is still in this kind of spiritual peek-a-boo situation with the Lord as he thinks that a. God has to physically see him and b. Jonah has to physically go to the temple to be close to the Lord.

5       The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me;

          weeds were wrapped about my head

6       at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.

5-6a. Jonah’s desperation set in as he continued to sink and had seaweeds wrap themselves around him. Anybody ever concerned about drowning? I realize I’m a little strange, but I kind of have this list of ways that are OK ways to die, and those that aren’t OK…instantly dying from a heart attack or dying peacefully in my sleep are on the OK list. Starving to death or drowning are NOT on the approved list!

Jonah recalls here that he went down so far that he felt like he was at the base of the mountains in the sea, and that he would be locked forever in this place under the sea by the bars that locked him in.

6b. BUT God raised him back up from being thrown into the dreadful sea. Again, we see the theme that God is in control

7       When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.

7. Verse 7 brings up interesting thoughts. Jonah is sinking and he is starting to pass out as he floats to the bottom of the sea. It’s only then that he remembers to pray to the Lord. Maybe you’ve heard the joke about the man stranded in his house as the flood waters came.

The fire department sent a fire truck to try and rescue him, but he said, “It’s alright! The Lord will save me!”

The floodwaters continued to rise, and the Red Cross sent a boat out to try and rescue him, but he said, “It’s alright! The Lord will save me!”

As the water continued to get deeper, the man ended up on the roof of his house, and the emergency teams now sent a helicopter to him and hung down a rope for him to climb, but again he said, “It’s alright! The Lord will save me!”

Sure enough, the man drowned, and he gets to heaven where he met St. Peter (this is how you know it’s a joke…it isn’t theologically correct). Confused, he asked, "Peter, I have lived the life of a faithful man - why didn’t the Lord rescue me?"

St. Peter replied, "For pity sake! He sent you a fire truck a boat and a helicopter!"

JHow many of us are like that? We do all kinds of things to fix our problems or our kids’ problems or our work problems, and then after we’ve put a lot of time and effort into what WE can do, we finally remember, “Oh, maybe I should pray about this.” Jonah finally remembers to pray, and he acknowledges that God hears his prayer…even from the bottom of the sea.

8          Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

8. Jonah makes the quick note that it doesn’t do you much good to pray to idols since it is God and God alone who can provide the covenant, steadfast love that comes from Him.

9          But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

9. Jonah concludes his prayer time with an incredible statement. Remember, he’s been chastised by sailors, thrown into the sea in the middle of an incredible storm, and then he ends up in the bottom of the sea, in a fish! Yet, he’s changing his perspective and he states that he will give thanks and will sacrifice and he will fulfill the vows that he’s made!

We often have had people question us about being foster parents and then of course about adopting kids when we already have a bunch. One of my typical responses is that God has clearly called us to this ministry of orphan care, and I don’t want to be disobedient to the Lord. I’d hate to do my own thing and then end up in the belly of a fish going the other direction. I use that phrase with other situations too, but it’s really true! This is NOT a luxury cruise that Jonah is on in this fish! God gave him a simple job: Get up, go to Nineveh, preach. God is so concerned about the people in Nineveh…AND Jonah that He will go to incredible lengths to rescue Jonah from himself and get him back to the right heart attitude…even in the belly of a fish!

Now, think about it, Jonah has gone through an incredible amount of grief to avoid doing what God called him to do in the first place!

Let’s back up: “Jonah…this is the Lord, Get up, go to Nineveh, and preach.” “OK Lord, I’ll go!” How simple would that have been? How much trouble would Jonah, the sailors, the owners of the cargo they threw overboard, etc…. they have been in? NONE! Was Jonah happy about going to the bad Ninevites? NO But still it’s what God told him to do!

The good news is that after all of the issues, at least temporarily, Jonah is willing to obey and do what God has told him to do.

The last phrase of verse nine is interesting…as Jonah affirms that Salvation belongs to the Lord. He is looking forward to being saved from his present predicament, but it is also an interesting foreshadowing about God bringing salvation to the people of Nineveh!

Today, we’ve celebrated our salvation through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross through communion. By partaking in the elements, we have stated that we believe that like Jonah, we have sinned and disobeyed the Lord and are in need of being rescued…just like Jonah in the fish.

As we move forward in the next couple of weeks, we’ll see the struggles that Jonah still has obeying the Lord! I’m sure that we have those same struggles…obeying the Lord can be tough! It can be way outside of our comfort zone! But, it can be something that makes a huge eternal difference in the lives of the people around us.

So what? What can we learn from this week’s little read section of the book of Jonah?

1.    God listens to our prayers…even when we are disobedient!

a.    Now, DON’T be disobedient because you think God will hear you better!

b.    Don’t hide when you’re in your sin…passionately seek God out!

2.    God can use our journaling or writing our prayers down as good things

a.    I realize that as Baptists, it’s not our general way of doing things, but, some really good things can come from it

b.    My Dad’s notebook/Bible

3.    God is in control!

a.    He provided a special fish that just “happened to be” in the neighborhood

b.    Despite all of the bad things he had done, God still rescued Jonah

c.     God provided Salvation physically for Jonah, and we’ll see next week spiritually for the people of Nineveh.

As we close out this message, I want us to listen to a song that I’ve played several times, "Might To Save". It’s currently the number one song sung in churches in the United States. It’s been in that position for almost a year. It reminds us that whether it’s Jonah, the Ninevites, or the people you know…they all need the salvation that Jonah tells us about! Again, we’ve put the lyrics in the bulletin for you to reflect on.