Running To God
Jonah Ch. 2
“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.” vs. 2
Attention Getters
Last week I had to do a little traveling. I try not to be out when I know the roads are full with commute traffic but sometimes I can’t avoid it. Wednesday I was out fairly early in the morning. I stopped at Starbucks first and figured I was pretty well set for the early morning trip. I had some of my favorite music on and the drive went pretty well, the normal back up on Highway 4 didn’t even rattle me, until I got to Walnut Creek. I notice a motorcycle about 200 yards or so ahead of me and he was traveling pretty fast. He swerved over to the left and went a little far and then started to swerve back to centered himself in the fast lane. That didn’t go so well. As he leaned to the right his motorcycle came out from under him and he and the motorcycle slid onto the shoulder of the road on the right. He wasn’t hurt and it didn’t look like the motorcycle was either. I think he was pretty lucky he was in the far right lane at that point. I have to tell you though, it rattled me a bit. It was one of those things that you tell just about everybody you deal with in the day because it really kind of throws you off.
Then on Thursday and I had to be out again. It started raining late Wednesday and so the roads were pretty slick on Thursday morning. So I am traveling on the freeway, again, and the traffic is pretty thick. I come to a stop at one point I hear a big bang and look in my rearview mirror to see this large truck coming at me. I had left room in front of me (good training from my UPS days) and was able to move up and avoid being hit by the guy behind me who had been rear ended. As you can imagine, I was feeling a little rattle after this. Two accidents in two days; that got my attention. I have been a little more alert on the road; a little more aware of the surroundings about me while I have been driving. I figured it was a wake-up call to pay more attention on the road before I got in an accident. What does it take to get your attention? What rattle you and says, “Wake up!” today we are going to read about a guy, Jonah, who God gave a big wake-up call to. If you are able, please stand as we read Jonah 2
Read Passage – Jonah 2
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5 The engulfing waters threatened me,the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. 9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’” 10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Logistics
Obviously, one of the first things we are confronted with in this story is what happens at the end of chapter one and leads into chapter two, 1:17:
“Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17
One of the things that people like to throw at Christians is the fact that some of the things in the Bible are pretty far-fetched. Jonah and the fish is one of the main ones. So what about this whole fish/whale thing? Are there any reasonable and realistic explanations? Here are some things to consider. Whales; most people claim that a whales throat is too small for a man to pass through.
Sperm Whales have demonstrated the ability to swallow peopleand they do reside in the Mediterranean Sea. The thing is they are herbivores not carnivores
Whale Shark, Dr. E. W. Gudger, an Honorary Associate in Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History, noted that “while the mouth is cavernous, the throat itself is only four inches wide and has a sharp elbow or bend behind the opening
Carcharias or Dog-fish, the stomach of which is so large that the body of a man could fit in it
Crocodile, which, though a river fish, yet, for the most part, is at the entrance of rivers, and sometimes goes into the sea many miles
The bottom line is the Bible is not specific when it comes to telling us the name of this fish or whale; we are left to guess. One of the significances of this story in the Bible is that the reader is asked to believe the unbelievable. More than that, we are led to ask ourselves if we trust God that he can do what seems improbable to man. Let’s combine this with something else. If we believe this story, God is controlling the sea, the wind, and all the elements. Why do we get stuck only on the fish when all of nature is submitting to God at this point. We are more likely to believe God is controlling the wind and sea than a fish.
Waves Of Ups And Downs
Speaking of waves, Jonah and God’s relationship is going through some “waves” of ups and downs and it reminds me that our relationships do as well. It really is just like our relationships. In verse 3 we read:
“You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.” vs.
God and Jonah are on different pages at this point. Their relationship is in turmoil. Jonah is a prophet. His calling is to speak the word of God. Jonah knows God, he knows him well. He knows him so well he knows that God will do what he says he will do. Giving the Ninevahites a chance to repent may be something God wants but it is not something Jonah wants and he knows that if they by chance do repent, God will relent. There really is a power struggle going on here. Relationships can be tumultuous when one of the parties is not on board with the other.
Cycles Of A Healthy Relationship
So how do we resolve the waves of ups and downs of relationships? Or, we can ask ourselves; What are the cycles of a healthy relationship? And…the cykles of a healthy relationship with God? Jonah’s story helps us identify those cyles.
- Turned To God
The first step that Jonah takes when he has the time to think about all that has happened is that he turned to God. Verses 1-2:
“From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.” vss. 1-2
When our relationship with God breaks down, we have opportunities to turn to God. Sometimes we have time alone, sometimes we have to pull ourselves away but we need to acknowledge God and turn to him. The same holds true for our relationships with others. We have to be willing to open up the conversation and get some resolution. Keeping it in and being quiet never resolves the issues.
Know this in our relationship with God; he never leaves us. He is always there with you whether you want to acknowledge it or not. So, we need to take the initiative because God hasn’t moved. We are the ones holding back.
Ex. I was in a bad mood earlier in the week. Nothing bad had happened. No one wronged me or did something to hurt me. I just felt bad and felt like I had this cloud over my head. Everyone around me knew it. (give a bit more detail) Finally on Tuesday I was ready to deal with it and when Claudia and were walking I just spilled everything. You know what? I almost immediately started feeling better. Talking about it was therapeutic. I not only started talking about it, I also admitted my part which is the second step in the cycle.
- Acknowledge Your Part and Repentance
Notice Jonah’s words from verse 4:
“I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’” vs. 4
Jonah comes clean with God here. His problem was not that he was running away; that was a result of the problem. The problem was that he had lost his focus, his focus on God and what God was trying to accomplish, not only in his life but in the life of others who were far from him, the Assyrians.
This step comes in two parts; 1)acknowledging his part, and 2)repenting. To repent is to turn the other way. Now realize, Jonah had no idea that God would save him. My guess is that he figured he would die there. Nothing like this had ever happened and he had no reason to assume god would save him. He may have just been trying to get right with God before he died. Repenting meant he was willing both physically and spiritually to go back the other way.
Ex. Going back to my “bad mood.” I acknowledged I was in a bad place but I had to start acting better. I had to turn from the negativity to being positive; to change my speech, my actions, and my thoughts.
- Forgiveness
The third step is to forgiveness. Notice Jonah’s actions is verse 8:
“Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.” vs. 8
Jonah is forgiven because of God’s love. God’s love has a foundation of forgiveness. He will always forgive, he promises that. It’s never withheld. Verse 8 explains why people don’t understand God’s love or forgiveness, they are looking for those things in other places. As Jonah says, they cling to worthless idols.
Part of clinging to God is the realization that no matter what, what you’ve done or haven’t done, what you feel is unforgivable or unlovable, whatever is separating you and God, he is willing to start again, he is willing to continue loving you, and he is willing to forgive. This is an incredible promise.
- Hope And Restoration
That brings us to the final step; hope and restoration. Verse 6:
“To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.” vs. 6
Jonah recognizes that God can restore this mess. Only God can bring him back up from this pit. He is sitting in the belly of a fish. The place where the fish processes its food, where it is dark, he has seaweed wrapped around his head, and it has to smell. It seems hopeless. But Jonah also recognizes that his very life is dependent on God and that regardless of whether or not he gets out of this mess, his relationship with God is being restored. I want to bring his point home by bringing it a verse from 1 peter 5:10:
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
1 Peter 5:10
The first thing that jumps out is that phrase “aftery0ou have suffered a little while.” Wouldn’t it be great if we could learn without going through difficulties? Sure it would. But the bottom line is that we do go through difficulties and they can last a while sometimes. Now hear what God has for us when we put our hope in him:
-Strength
-Firmness
-Steadfastness
What may seem hopeless to us, is God’s chance to build us up. To build strength, be become more solid, and to become more steady.
Keep At it
There is one more thing. We need to keep at it. This won’t just happen once but it will be an on going issue for our lives. It goes hand in hand with the hope and restoration. Look once more at verse 9:
“But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good.” vs. 9
Jonah is willing to start over again. The thing about relationships, they are great for a while but we do go through ups and downs. We can get on track but we will have issues that arise. Even the best of relationships has struggles. And the encouragement is to keep at it. As Peter said, we can struggle for a while. But keep going. We can run the other way. Turn around and keep going. We may not be in line with God. Repent and keep going. Because when we do, the hope and restoring brings about the strength, firmness, and steadfastness that only comes from God.
