Jonah Chapter 1: 1 17. Hide and seek
Do you remember the children’s game hide and seek..... did you ever get such a good hiding place nobody ever caught you maybe you did? This opening chapter of Jonah is all about the Christian game of hide and seek - Jonah tries to get into such a good hiding place that God won’t bother Him anymore... which involves him continually going down to Joppa, going down below deck, eventually going down to the bottom of the sea.
When you consider trying to hide from God it’s ridiculous when you think about it... (Omniscient, omnipresent omnipotent God) Yet Jonah does exactly that. It’s a bit like when you play hide and seek with a little two year old and they hide behind the curtain /behind daddy leg) God wanted Jonah for a special task (Nineveh) but Jonah was a reluctant prophet, he goes in the opposite direction he chooses to disobey rather than obey God.
A reluctant Christian
But how many times have we tried to hide from God, Maybe God has laid something on your hearts yet we’ve been reluctant to obey what he wants us to do ( for Jonah it was a people group he hated) Just because we don’t want to do it.... doesn’t mean its not the will of God for You. So Jonah begins a downward spiral it’s called backsliding.
Like Jonah we are not immune from this downward spiral of backsliding, we often take our lives into a different direction – I believe there are countless Christians living a life that is continually running and hiding from God in disobedience. (I BELILEVE WE ALL DO) often unmoved, indifferent to what God wants for our lives.
(We know it here in our minds - but fail to experience it in here our hearts and so neglect living it out because we are unwilling to say not my will but your will be done ) If that’s you, you need to stop running because God often has a way of bringing you round to his way of thinking. The saying is true we can run, but we cannot hide and at some point we all need to start touching base with God.
That’s exactly where we find Jonah, playing hide and seek with God, unwilling to touch base with God. But Jonah will come to learn the truth that you can run but you cannot hide from God. And He will learn some valuable personal lessons about Himself and about the God whom he is to serve. And so I hope each one of us too will learn and apply some valuable lessons as we travel through the book of Jonah and we too will touch base with God.
1. V 1- 3. Jonah runs. (from the will of God).
Background and setting : Jonah son of Amittai was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam 2nd his ministry span around d 40 years form 793-753 BC Jonah was in a privileged position. He was probably also connected to the company of prophets that was connected with Elisha ministry 2King 2:3. It was probably the first prophetic Bible college
V1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah: As a Prophet the word of the Lord came directly to him v1 but it wasn’t the first time either the word of the Lord had come before 2King 14:25 here he would announce God’s message of blessing on a people who were completely undeserving the nation of Israel. This was during a time when the King did evil in the eyes of the Lord 2King.14:24 and yet land would be restored. The Lord’s compassion was demonstrated towards them v27 even without repentance, yet the nation continued in their Idolatry, power seeking, selfishness and greed.
• The first message goes like this “this Church is going to continue to grow in 2008 – were going to be blessed of God – membership is going to double in 2008 - everybody will be prosperous. Many people will come to know the Lord and be baptised. The Church is going to know great days of revival God is going to show compassion despite our sin. That exactly what happened in Israel no wonder Jonah shared that message who wouldn’t?
But the Word of the Lord comes to Jonah again with a 2nd assignment is the exact opposite go to that city of Nineveh (heathen, Gentiles) and tell the people to repent if they do not destruction will come... This time Jonah doesn’t like what he has been told so he runs away from the Lord and headed for Tarshih, he went down to Joppa.
But let’s face it who wants to share a message like (Repent or be destroyed) to a ruthless people like that? As far as Jonah was concerned they were enemies of God who were ruthless towards their enemies: Heads would be cut off and paraded around the city walls of Ninevah on poles. No wonder Jonah ran in the opposite direction. It’s a bit like God calling you to go to Afghanistan and preach to the Taliban calling them to repent and turn to Yahweh But do you know that is exactly what God has called some Christians to do.
• On WED I was praying with the BMS Graham Heath , He recalled a story about two colleges of BMS missionaries in Afghanistan who had gone ou to share the gospel, Were walking through an area when a grenade was thrown at them by a teenager not once but twice and then they were shoot at by a 13 year old boy who had such a great resentment yet those missionaries are out there in that hostile environment being obedient to the will of God sharing the compassion of God for such hostile people.
The Word of the Lord has come to us Jonah was in a special position the word of the Lord had come to him. But we are even more blessed than Jonah for we have The incarnate Word of God with us, the plan of redemption unfolded and experienced through the power and witness of the Holy Spirit and we too have been given through the Words of the Lord the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
• In our context it means going into our communities, to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ that is our message and our responsibility, God has called us all to be his witnesses. God may be calling you to step foot into areas you would never step foot in to work amongst homosexuals – to work with the down outs – the youths troubling the neighbourhood – ( Sam and Joe in Countesthorpe are engaged in reaching out to the youth on the streets) the prostitutes in our city centres. Other new ministries right here....... One thing is for sure God has not called you to stay the same as you are........
Are you obedient to the word of the Lord or are you willing no matter how difficult it might be? Don’t be like Jonah running away from the Lord? If God has asked YOU TO DO SOMETHING, TO GIVE SOMETHING, TO START SOMETHING, TO FINISH SOMETHING don’t run away but fulfil it!
• Last week in Hampshire Rosemary Edwards left home without leaving any word or taking her things and has been missing all week. It was as a result of a her losing her job and her dads word which came to her explaining she would no longer be able to continue horse riding as a result the girl has run away from home – the Father since that day as been seeking his daughter on national radio and TV with an emotional appeal for the safe return of his daughter.
We can be like Rosemary with God – God may say something, do something, expect something and we don’t like it we want things how they are (comfort zones) and so we run. But like the love of the father who is pursuing his daughter. God will pursue you, as he pursued Jonah because when it comes to the will of God in our lives we can run and spend our whole lives running but we cannot hide from God.
2. V3 – 5 Jonah Sleeps (the sleep of indifference)
Here we see Jonah get on board a large trading vessel bound for Tarshish heading east across the Mediterranean Sea to a Phoenician port. Yet God had called him to go to Nineveh 500 miles north west of Israel. It is obvious something is completely wrong here; Jonah has stepped outside the will of God. Is Jonah bothered? Is he concerned about doing God’s will? The answer is no and the reason being is that when Jonah boards the ship he goes straight below deck and falls into a deep sleep. I call this the sleep of indifference.
a) The sleep of indifference - is a suppressed conscience: Jonah is a t peace in his conscience everything is going fine as he boards the ship and goes below he falls into a deep sleep, all is well, in fact even with God in pursuit with the storm focused upon the sea trading vessel ( v4 sent Javelin) in the providence of God, pursues Jonah and the whole of nature is at his side yet Jonah still sleeps like a baby in a cradle gentle being rocked. We see here that Jonahs actions didn’t bother his conscience, the fact that he had disobeyed the word of God that had come to him. His conscience was clear...
Have you ever tried to get sleep with a heavy conscience.... when something is really laying on your mind.... when you feel really guilty about something do you find it easy to sleep? If so that is a healthy conscience but Jonah he is at peace everything is fine.
We learn from this that an absence of guilt is not a barometer of whether we are doing the right thing. Because we can deny reality we cannot measure obedience to the will of God for our lives by our feelings.
• People often say, ‘I’ve got good feeling about this’ Christians who justify their actions by saying something like’ I really feel the Lord is in this .... It really means I’m going to suppress my conscience on this one.
Ahab had good feelings about taking Naboths vineyard till he meet Elijah - Saul had good feelings about going into battle until he meet Samuel - Herod felt content taking his brother’s wife until he meet John the Baptist- Judas was content to betray Jesus until he saw that Jesus was condemned - Jonah felt just fine until being woken up by the sailors in a middle of a storm which was coming for him.
Don’t let how you fell govern whether or not you sitting under the will of God. Is your conscience indifferent to your current actions are the things in your life which is completely out of the will of God? Yet your conscience is at peace, you need to watch out, because God will find you out!
You can suppress your conscience and have peace about something but be fooling yourself, you can be in utter conflict about what you are facing and be in the centre of Gods ill: The traffic light situation....But stop and measure it against the objective truth of the Word of God... get ready for the subjective prompting of the Holy Spirit and go and experience it in the daily reality of our providential circumstances.
a) The sleep of indifference - will hurt others.
God had asked Jonah to go to Nineveh to be blessing to thousands Jonah really wants them to be cursed he’s not bothered about the Nineties. He is completely indifferent and this indifference will begin to affect others because God is pursuing him.
Here Jonah becomes a curse to a few sailors. Yet he sooner leaves them he has no compassion for them he only thinks about himself. But his indifference to the will of God will have consequences towards these sailors, they were in a the centre of a situation which had nothing to do with them it was Jonah who was failing to carry out the will of God for his life. Yet Jonahs actions began to take their toll upon these sailors v4 The storm, ship was threatening to break up - the fear of loss of life - the cargo thrown overboard.
The actions we take outside the will of God have consequences.... for instance its not the will of God for us to have an immoral relationships or lifestyles but it happens and it will hurt others, it’s not the will of God for Christians to lie, gossip, slander, defraud, to misuse the name of Lord but it happens and it will hurt others.
True story: In the 1990’s Roy Clemence, a onetime missionary and minister in Cambridge – a great conference speaker- author - greatly used of God, fell outside the will of God, when he became indifferent to a immoral relationship with his research assistant - another man this indifference had consequences upon others his ministry finished – repercussions within the church he pastored - his wife and children abandoned and marred by the whole experience - his sleep of indifference brought consequences which effected himself and others around him.
There was once a little bird who decided to rebel against tradition, and when it came time to fly south for the winter, he decided to stay behind. All the other birds flew south for the warmer weather, leaving the rebellious one alone. Of course, it wasn’t long before the little bird discovered he had made a terrible mistake. Winter set in and it became very cold. So, he decided that he had better take off and fly south like his friends. He started flying, but didn’t get very far before the cold north wind began to freeze his wings, and he went plummeting down, down, down ... He fell straight down from the sky, through an open hole in the rooftop of a nearby barn, and directly into a fresh pile of cow dung. Well, the warmth thawed out his wings, and soon he was feeling fine again. But, as his little head popped out from the smelly dung, along came a cat who plucked him up and ate him. The moral: Whenever you end up in a pile of dung it may not necessarily be a bad thing, and everyone that comes to pull you out of your Dung may not necessarily be a good thing.
So we have seen our indifference to situations can effect others What will we do in the midst of this hurting world will we carry out the will of God or will we remain asleep indifferent to the needs of this hurting world.... ell the good news is that .......
3.V9 -12 Jonah awakes (submits to the will of God)
We all make mistakes, if were honest at times we have been indifferent to situations around us and maybe have not acted as we ought. like Jonah the amazing thing is that God still pursues us .. still offers forgiveness and the opportunity to serve Him...Because out of this mess Jonah has caused for these sailors God brings good out of a bad situation.
a. The Sailors awake to the need of God: Times of trouble can often bring people closer to God The storm may not of awakened Jonah but it had awakened these sailors to their need of getting right with God to rescue them v5 - 6. The wake Jonah up, they begin to quick fire questions v8.. They are hungering for the truth...... They ask Jonah what they must do v11 throw me overboard came the reply.
Here we see more compassion in these heathen sailors than in the devout Jew, as instead they try to row ashore v13 they cannot and so they cry out to God for mercy for what they are about to do v14 yet when they throw Jonah overboard the sea becomes calm. V16 the men greatly feared the Lord and they offered sacrifices to the Lord and made vows to him.
• You may well be given opportunities to demonstrate your faith, when people are in the midst of storms
a. Jonah awakes (submits to the will of God: v12
Here we find Jonah finally submitting to the will of God, we to need to be in the place of submission rather than fighting God because God is actually for us and not against us Rom 8:28 And we know in all things God works for good of those who love him. Jonah here is prepared to be thrown overboard for the sake of others to give his life that others might live.
As a result of Jonah’s submission we see, the storm abates, the sailors are saved, physically but more importantly they come to know the living God. Then as Jonah has surrendered his life to the providence of God, he is thrown overboard, he too is rescued as God provides a great fish to save him.. Reminds me of the words of Jesus... Matt16:25 whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Jonah submits his life to God, things are about to take a turn for the worse...... But he has surrendered himself to the will of God. Maybe things are taking a turn for the worse for you in your life? The key is to submit your life to God, trust Him, to stay close to him and not to wander away.........
Psalm 130 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. V5 i wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in his word I put my trust. Psalm 23. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.
Because one greater than Jonah has come and into this world and surrendered his life to the will of the Father the Lord Jesus Christ, he suffered bled and died that we might be able to receive forgiveness and on the third day was raised to life that our surrendered life might be raised to eternal life too.
HAVE WE COME TO THAT POINT OF SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD FOR OUR LIVES?
In conclusion: Are you still playing hide and seek with God? Are you in breach of his will for your life? It’s time for you to touch base with God to walk inside the will of God?
Maybe youoi need to wake up from the sleep of indifference in regard to your own lifestyle and the effects it is having on yourself and your distant relationship with God and the effects upon others around you?
If so you need to be in the place of surrender, to be able to say to God Lord no longer my will but your will be done - When we are there walking in the will of God with the heart of God - he will deliver You he will be there for you and he will be able to use you to reach out to a hurting world for Jesus Christ’s sake.
MAYBE YOU NEED TO SURRENDER YOUR LIFE A FRESH TO GOD or for the first time : TODAY I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU AN opportunity to publicly come forward and receive prayer right now........ to do just that.
