U-Turns Encouraged Here Series

“U-turns Encouraged Here”

Jonah 1:17-2:10

Pastor John Bright

Jonah 1:17 “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

Jonah 2 “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said:

“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,

And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

And You heard my voice.

3 For You cast me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

And the floods surrounded me;

All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.

4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;

Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;

The deep closed around me;

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains;

The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;

Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,

O Lord, my God.

7 “When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the Lord;

And my prayer went up to You,

Into Your holy temple.

8 “Those who regard worthless idols

Forsake their own Mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving;

I will pay what I have vowed.

Salvation is of the Lord.”

10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”

Last week – Chapter 1 (review)

There was this Christian lady that had to do a lot of traveling for her business, so she did a lot of flying. But flying made her nervous so she always took her Bible along with her to read because it helped relax her.

One time she was sitting next to a man and when he saw her pull out her Bible, he gave a little chuckle and went back to what he was doing. After a while, he turned to her and asked, "You don't really believe all that stuff in there do you?"

The lady replied, "Of course I do...it is the Bible."

He said, "Well, what about that guy that was swallowed by that whale?"

She replied, "Oh, Jonah. Yes, I believe that, it is in the Bible."

He asked, "Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the whale?"

The lady said, "Well, I don't really know. I guess when I get to heaven, I will ask him."

"What if he isn't in heaven?" the man asked sarcastically.

"Then you can ask him!" replied the lady. 😊

Last week I mentioned that the big fish was a deliverance for Jonah who expected to die when he was thrown into the sea. God did not abandon Jonah and He has promised to never abandon us – “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

His desire is for all the runners to return to Him. We get a description of runners in Revelation 2:6 – “…you have left your first love.” That doesn’t mean you are a terrible person. I look out here on Sunday and think ya’ll clean up real nice, but what is on the inside? Are you running? Wanna stop and return to God?

If your answer is “yes”, then I want to offer you three easy steps that any runner can do:

Step 1 - REMEMBER

v. 7 “When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the Lord;

And my prayer went up to You,

Into Your holy temple.”

Like Jonah, we remember and that leads to prayer. So, how about some honest prayer?

• My life stinks.

• I’m having a hard time forgiving others and myself.

• I feel like I can’t take it anymore!

I will have a lot more to say about honest prayer in a couple of weeks when we see Jonah, post-Nineveh, in chapter 4. For now, let me say this – God can take anything you want to say to Him in prayer. It won’t hurt your relationship with God to be honest. On the contrary, it actually helps!

Jonah is praying from the belly of the fish but he is recalling the moments he was sinking in the depths of the sea. He remembered God and received a miracle. In the New Testament, Jesus told the Parable of the Loving Father (or Prodigal Son) in Luke 15. The Father is looking down the road day after day, just waiting for the son to remember home and return. He waits and waits until the son finally returns. Jonah is running and running but finally remembers. That God – our Loving Father – is only one remembering prayer away from you and me each and every day.