JONAH 1:17 - 2:10

Jonah disobeyed God's command to go to Nineveh and cry against it. He ran to Joppa to take a ship to Tarshish. God was a step ahead of him, though, and caused a great storm. Jonah was cast into the sea where immediately a giant guppy gulped him. This, though not of Jonah's choosing, was God's way of delivering and disciplining him. God could have sent a luxury liner. God could have sent a humongenous sea gull to carry him to land. God could have caused Jonah to grow gills or to be able to walk on water. But God is sovereign. He didn't have to check with Jonah or anyone else. He sent a fish. He knew that Jonah needed more schooling, more discipline, more correction, more humbling. Jonah needed time to reflect on his folly; more time to meditate; more time to pray. So God send a Submarine Chapel and gave Jonah 3 days and nights to use it. Jonah was in a great time of distress. Distress will do 1 of 2 things to us. 1. It will cause us to reject God in anger and we'll sulk and pout, or 2. It will cause us to cry out to Him and to draw near Him. In his distress, Jonah did the latter and became a Praying Prophet.

1. JONAH'S DISTRESS CAUSED HIM TO CRY OUT FOR HELP: VV1-6:
1. The words that Jonah uses suggest more than mild irritation. The words mean deep anguish, dire straits, severe affliction. It is like the difference between an blinding migraine and a mild headache. It is the difference between a chest crushing heart attack and mild indigestion. Jonah is in a world of hurt.
2. What contributed to this sad state of affairs? Why was Jonah so bummed out?
1. V2 suggests fear of dying. Sheol was the Hebrew word for the abode of the dead, the netherworld, the grave. It's only logical he would fear dying. He had every reason to believe he'd be digested and that could be fatal.
2. V4 suggests fear that God had abandoned him. Again, that's logical. He had been rebellious and disobedient. He had been cast into the sea. He had been gobbled up by a fish. The theology of that day was, sin and you'll suffer. If you're suffering it's a punishment. He reasoned, "I sinned, so I'm cut off. I'm swallowed, so God has forsaken me."
3. VV5, 6 suggest fear of being absolutely helpless and powerless. That's logical. He was encompassed, surrounded, imprisoned. He couldn't fight his way out or eat his way out!
3. Have you ever been in such despair? Have you ever thought things were bummed out and would never be good again?
1. Perhaps you thought you were going to die; maybe you sit here today feeling the sentence of death. Are you fearful? Anxious? Afraid?
2. Perhaps you felt, or still feel, things are over between you and God. You're washed up. You are a hopeless, defiled, doomed sinner. There is no way He could love or forgive you.
3. Perhaps you felt, or feel, trapped in hopelessness. You feel like you're running in mud up to your waist and you can't free yourself. You are wrestling with an assailant and you're arms are tied down.
4. We can learn from Jonah. In his distress he cried out to God.
1. The best thing to do in any extremity is to pray. Don't just pray in good times.
2. Anytime, anyplace, any situation is a fitting one for prayer.
3. The deepest depth of human woe cannot cut us off from God. With David we can say, "As for me, I said in my alarm, 'I am cut off from before Thine eyes;' Nevertheless Thou didst hear the voice of my supplications When I cried to Thee." Psalms 31:22 (NASB).
5. A young boy, going to school for the first day, had his lunch in hand and eagerly set out on a new adventure. On the way to school, he saw a fish and followed it downstream. Then he saw a butterfly and tried to catch it. Suddenly he realized he was lost. He couldn't find his way. He decided to pray, but he only knew two prayers: "Now I lay me down to sleep" and the Lord's Prayer. He wasn't going to bed, so he opted for the latter. He began, "Our Father, Who art in heaven." At that moment, he heard a voice speaking his name. It was his dad who had followed him to be sure he got to school okay. Years later as he reflected on that event, it was comforting to know his father was near.

2. JONAH'S DISTRESS CAUSED HIM TO REFOCUS ON GOD: VV6-9:
1. Notice his awareness of God. Notice how he remembered God. In times of real crisis, major dilemma, and hard affliction, lesser things, material things, temporal things, slip our mind and are replaced by weightier things.
2. In his distress God loomed large in Jonah's consciousness. That caused
1. VV4, 8, 9 A new promise of faithfulness. Others might flee to vain idols, or simply vanities: empty, useless things like a tavern, self-pity, physical consolations. They forsake their faithfulness.
2. V9 A new gratitude. Even in the pits, even in despair, even in all that dark, dank, drab, smelly, slimy envelope of fish flesh, Jonah is thankful.
3. V9 A new awareness that salvation comes from God. It does not come from personal effort, or good works, or good intentions, or promises we make. Jonah knew that if he survived, God did it. So did David who wrote, "My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation." Psalms 62:1 (NASB).
3. Jonah had a clarified concept of God. He's not one to be disobeyed. He's not one to be run from. He's not one to be forgotten. He's not one to be ignored. He is to be respected, revered, and obeyed.
4. We ought to learn, in our distresses, to refocus on God. We ought to learn:
1. God is always gracious and willing to forgive. God said, "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NASB).
2. God is always there. God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5 (NIV).
3. God is accessible. "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16 (NASB).
4. God will hear our prayers. "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24 (NASB).
5. Speaking of focusing on God, the poet asks, "In the glare of earthly pleasure, In the fight for earthly treasure, 'Mid your blessings without measure, Have you forgotten God? While His bounties you're accepting, Are you His commands neglecting, And His call to you Rejecting? Have you forgotten God? See the shades of night appalling, On your pathway now are falling, Hear you not those voices calling? Have you forgotten God?" (Anonymous)

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