Jonah: The Praying Prophet Series

“JONAH: THE PRAYING PROPHET”

Jonah 2:1-10

David P. Nolte

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 Codfish 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.

“Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, ‘I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me. So I said,”I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.” Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head. ‘I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple. Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD.’ Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.” Jonah 2:1-10 (NASB).

For our times of distress John W. Peterson’s words are appropriate:

“Have faith in God and trust in Him

Though shadows dark your path bedim,

Have faith in God who rules on high

Who tends the spinning worlds that fly,

But stoops to hear a sad heart sigh

Or listen to a little baby cry!

Have faith in God, you're not alone,

Remember He will guard His own;

Look up beyond to heaven's throne

Have faith, have faith in God!”

JONAH DID!

I. HIS DISTRESS CAUSED HIM TO CRY OUT TO GOD FOR HELP:

A. 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.

B. What contributed to this sad state of affairs? Why was Jonah so bummed out?

1. He had a fearful anticipation of dying.

a. Sheol was the Hebrew word for the abode of the dead or the grave.

b. He had every reason to believe he’d be digested and that could be fatal.

2. He feared that God had abandoned him.

a. He had been rebellious and disobedient. He had been cast into the sea. He had been gobbled up by a fish.

b. 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. He feared being absolutely helpless and powerless.

a. He was encompassed, surrounded, imprisoned.

b. He couldn’t fight his way out or eat his way out!

C. 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.