Meditation on Jonah 1:17-2:10 Part 2
"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 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 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. 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. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 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. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!” And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land." Jonah 1:17-2:10
It’s really painful when you stop and think about it. That is, that more often than not, we have to get into the belly of the fish before we finally cry out to God who has been turning up the volume in our lives to get our attention so that we wouldn’t end up in the belly of the fish.
When the word of the Lord came to Jonah, he could have cried out to God then and there, but he didn’t. He could have brought it to his brothers and they could have cried out together, but he didn’t. He could have cried out in Joppa, he could have cried out on the ship, he could have cried out when the storm hit, but he didn’t. We can judge Jonah’s motivations all day long, either way, Jonah chose to be thrown into the sea rather than cry out to God.
In his commentary on Jonah, Richard Phillips says,
“Disobedience leads to prayerlessness, prayerlessness leads to folly and sin, and folly and sin lead to disaster.”
By God’s grace, He never stops pursuing His children, but that pursuit includes the Lord’s loving discipline. The author of Hebrews says it this way:
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:5-11
When God’s children find themselves in the belly of Sheol, He is right there beside them. In fact, He is the one that put them there in the first place so that they will cry out to Him.
To quote C. S. Lewis,
“When we want to be something other than the thing that God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy...whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want. Once more, we are embarrassed by the intolerable compliment, by too much love, not too little.”
He continues,
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C.S. Lewis
The amazing thing is, Jonah was not ignorant of who God is. Jonah lacked no information…I’m not just talking about his calling to Nineveh…I’m talking his knowledge of God. In his prayer, he strings together allusions to twenty different Psalms. Jonah is a legit theologian. We can know all the right things and still mess up. We can know all the right things and still be a self- righteous prick.
And, honestly, it’s not the things we don’t know about God that we struggle with – it’s the things we do know. This was clearly the case with Jonah,
“I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah 4:2
When times are good and things are going our way we can forget how utterly helpless we are, how in need of grace we are…regularly. Jonah, is very quick to cry out when he was in need, but certainly wasn’t when it came to the Ninevites and the sailors. But now, in the belly of Sheol, Jonah is starting to realize how stupid it was to run from the Lord…In His presence there is life and fullness of joy, to run from Him only leads to death.
In, The Horse and His Boy, Shasta found himself alone traveling in the dark…as he begins to cry out, feeling sorry for himself and his misfortunes, enjoying his nice pity party of one. He suddenly realizes a very large presence walking beside him…
After a while…Shasta finally breaks the silence and asks, “Who are you?” and the Large creature said, “One who has waited long for you to speak,” eventually Shasta vents telling this creature everything that’s happened and how bad he has it.
This creature, that we learn is a giant lion responds, “I do not call you unfortunate.” The Mighty Lion then goes on the explain that every event that Shasta saw as unfortunate, or hard, or unjust, or a trial was actually him (The Giant Lion) delivering Shasta from something worse…
When we think of Jonah, we usually think of the great fish as a sign of judgment (which in part, is true, but that’s not the whole story). It was that great fish that sustained Jonah from drowning and brought him back to dry land…salvation through judgment, resurrection through judgment, life through death.
Joseph said to his brothers, that what they meant for evil God meant for good. Jesus was
crucified at the hands of wicked and lawless men - and yet, this was done according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, so that, through His resurrection the pangs of death might be removed. Had it not been for the death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus, none of us would know what life really is.
When Jonah felt his life slipping away there was only One he could appeal too. It was the Lord who hurled the great wind and the Lord who appointed the great fish…The Lord is not only sovereign over land and sea, He is sovereign over life and death…
Nothing else could deliver Jonah…not his position, not his nation, not his land, not his political affiliation, not his military, not his economy, not his denomination or his tribe, it didn’t matter if he was Dutch Reformed, or a good Baptist boy…there was no religious practice that could pull him out of the pit…
Generally, those people who think they are good people, are usually the worst people especially if they are in the church. I know people that are so focused on everyone else’s sins that they are too busy being holy to repent of their own. This is a pride and an arrogance that will carry you down to Sheol, like a boulder tied around your ankles will carry you down to the bottom of the sea.
“Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.”…this was true of the pagan Mariners…they realized how weak and helpless they were – and cry out to the living God. But this was also true of Jonah, and Israel. The idolization of his nation caused him to run from God…towards his own destruction…Let me ask you this question, have you ever experienced anything good, while running from God?
God is a far greater Savior than you are a sinner. This was true of the Mariners, this was true of Jonah, this was true of the Ninevites… and it’s true for each and every one of us. His ability to pursue is far greater than your ability to run. No one has ever outrun the Hound of Heaven. Salvation belongs to the Lord!
What do we have to offer a dead and dying world? RESURRECTION. Does that seem
impossible for you? Does that seem impossible for a loved one? Does that seem impossible for our nation? If so, then you’re starting to get the point – Salvation belongs to the Lord! So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.
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