Series: Having a Heart for Nineveh
Jonah 2:1-9
INTRO
I love the sea
-but it is where I have had some of my more unpleasant experiences
-more than one deep sea experience has been ruined by seasickness
-the longest day of my life
Jonah had his own unpleasant experience with the sea—one he reflects on in chapter two
Up to this point-Jonah has been on the run—fleeing from the call of God to go and preach to Nineveh
-heading down to Joppa, down to the port, down to a ship, down to its interior
-Jonah was running as far away from God as he could get
-God would have to find some other prophet dumb enough to go
-but God is tenacious—and will not easily release His grip on those He calls
And so God sent a violent storm—but Jonah stood defiant
-he would rather die than fulfill God’s mission
And so chapter one tells us Jonah took up new residence—from the bowels of a ship heading west—to the belly of a whale bound for the east-read 1:17
-It’s here Jonah had time to ponder-read 2:1
In the sanctuary and solitude of this belly, Jonah broke his silence with God and prayed
1. The first thing that stands out is that it is prayer that is passionate
-for Jonah has moved from narrative to poetry
-and poetry, by its very nature, is intestinal language
-language that flows out of the depths, language from the gut
2. It is a prayer that acts as a journal-describing Jonah’s near death experience
-I’ve had a few—a couple on my bike
-once teaching my wife to drive
-but nothing like Jonah’s
Jonah begins by recalling his distress-read verse 2
Jonah’s language reveals a man confined, hemmed in—lit “out of my straights”
Running from God places us in a tight place-where life is restricted
Jonah may have enjoyed a moment under the Mediterranean sun, cruising confidently under full sail
-the sea breeze and salt air deepening the sensory expectation of Tarshish
-but on the run—he soon experienced the dark, dank confinement that eventually comes to those living outside of God’s will
-confinement that feels like hell
-like being in the “belly of sheol”—the place of the dead—the symbol of utter darkness
-here Jonah screamed—and one could hear him saying—
-SO TAKE MY MISERABLE LIFE!!
-and God heard Jonah’s prayer and did—almost-read verse 3
God called Jonah’s bluff-accommodated to Jonah’s death wish
-hurled Jonah into the deepest of the deepest part of the sea
-where the currents boxed him in
-what we hear are the words of a dying man—coming to grips with the force of God’s powerful judgment
-the unnerving realization of death’s harsh terror
But something even more terrifying took place-read verse 4 Jonah began to sense a fate worse than death
-he began to feel the emptiness of being driven out, banished from God’s presence
-the same language is used in Lev 21:7 of a woman whose husband has divorced her
-he had committed careericide—and now its painful reality was hitting him hard
-he was no longer God’s go to man—no longer a prophetic voice
-and while it never paid well-being a prophet was not a glamorous life
-it came with the priceless privilege of intimacy with God
-Jonah could look back—but could not go back—his usefulness to God was over
Feeling abandoned by God has to be the most terrifying experience
-St John of the Cross—confined to a barbaric dungeon—felt discarded —and cried out--
“Where have you hidden.
Beloved, and left me groaning?
You fled like a stag having wounded me;
I went in search of you, and you were gone”
CS Lewis—after his wife died—wrote—
“Where is God? Go to Him when your need is desperate, and what do you find?
-a door slammed in your face and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside—and after that—silence”
I have spoken to a few who as we chat speak about a loved one gone
-inevitably-the conversation turns to God
-and they told me they has not spoken to Him since—they are still too angry
Dark nights of the soul—we will all experience them
-some-like Jonah’s—are self induced
-others we cannot explain
-we find ourselves in the agony and confusion and deep sense of letdown
-life makes no sense Jonah’s descent continued-read verse 5
Jonah found himself surrounded--enclosed by the deep
-seaweed imprisoning his head-he has the sensation of dying
-verse 6 is even more graphic of this descent (read verse 6a)
Jonah is on an elevator to hell—he has moved from the prophet’s suite to the
lower basement
-his descent goes not just to the bottom—but to the roots of the sea’s terrain—beyond the base of the mountains
-Jonah has finally hit bottom—there’s nothing underneath this underneath
-where he feels confined to a watery grave
But as life often reveals—
-when God seems most absent from us—He is doing His most important work in us
-work that--if He were not absent—He could not do Jesus’ death underscores this
-those three hours on the Cross—where Jesus screamed—God where are
You—why have You forsaken Me?
-were the moments God and the Son were reconciling the world
In our sense of abandonment—God is often doing what we cannot see—but what we must always trust
-FOR IT IS ALWAYS GOOD
-Crabb puts it this way—
“Imagine the comfort we would experience and the hope we would feel if we realized that during His absence, Jesus is working to cut the chain from our ankles, to remove the weight that keeps us from flying”
This was the case with Jonah
-in the absence—God’s grace was working—
1. To cut the chains from Jonah’s self-centeredness-read verses 6b-7
2. Grace was working to bring Jonah’s prophetic voice-read verse 8
Jonah is back to doing what prophets do—speaking against the dominant culture around them
-speaking out of the lessons he has learned—
THOSE WHO HANG ON TO VAPORS OF NOTHINGNESS…
-who regard things that are ultimately worthless—that amount to nothing— who run after the Tarshish’s of this world—who hasten after their own will and not God’s
-who chase after things temporal
-FORFEIT GOD’S KINDNESS, God’s love--ABANDON what they could
have had
-as long as you think you can manage your way
-as long as you choose to pursue life apart from God
-you stand to lose what we all need most—God’s generous, intimate kindness
3. Grace was working to bring Jonah back to faithfulness-read vs 9
Jonah’s prayer ends where prayer should end
APP
So what are the lessons from Jonah’s prayer?
1. When people choose to go their own way—what the Bible calls sin
-worlds inevitably fall apart—maybe not immediately—but ultimately
2. While we can choose our sin—we cannot choose the consequences
-they have an energy of their own—only God controls them
-sometimes the consequences result in total loss-as Jonah’s did
-loss of reputation, integrity, respect
-loss of responsibility, material security
-loss of relationships, career
Jonah’s world was undone because he ran from God’s will
3. Sometimes God must let us go all the way to the bottom
-like the prodigal son—all the way to the bottom of the pigpen
-some of us—like Jonah—remain in our stubbornness
-until we come to the end of ourselves—our world, is reduced to nothing
-for God to intervene prematurely will be to enable one in one’s sin
4. If we hit bottom—even there—we will find God
-there is no place too low—too beyond God’s rescue
-His love is that deep
Part of what we do here at st john’s is invite faith stories
-stories where failure connected with grace
-stories that underscore what we have just learned…
Does all of this tell us about God?
-it’s here we see both God’s justice and God’s powerful mercy
-justice that brings Jonah to the place where he must face the consequences of sin
-but mercy—that gives him yet another chance
God has to sometimes allow us to hit bottom---but brings out the good for those who are his loving children.
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