When it’s hard to pray, Pray Harder!
Jonah 2:1-10
Sometimes what you think might do you in will be the one thing that saves you.
Sometimes the worst possible thing that can happen to you is exactly what you need.
Sometimes the thing you fear the most is the very thing that will turn your life around.
It would be my guess that the most powerful prayer that Jonah ever prayed was in the belly of a fish. It’s possible that the most powerful prayer you have ever prayed was when you were in trouble as well. How did Jonah get to this place in his life?
Jonah was a preacher…he was a prophet and God came to him one day and said “go to the city of Ninevah and preach against it , because it’s wickedness has come up before me. But there was a problem. Jonah didn’t like the people in Ninevah—they were evil—they were powerful and so this preaching opportunity looked more like a deaths sentence to Jonah . So Jonah did what many of us do-he ran away from God. God said go to Ninevah-instead he went in the opposite direction to Tarshish. He admitted that he was running from God. But listen I don’t care how strong you are or how fast you are, you cannot outrun God. God ran after Jonah and sent a storm that threatened to rip the boat apart. When the sailors on board discover that the storm has come because of Jonah, they ask him what they should do and he says “throw him overboard.” Now the sailors didn’t want to but the storm was strong and they felt they had no choice. And the moment they toss him overboard the sea becomes calm and the sailors are now safe.
But for Jonah his life has been turned upside down. At that point God sends a fish that swallows him and actually saves him from certain death.
Sometimes what you think might do you in will be the one thing that saves you. Jonah is in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights. And while he is there he prays. Listen to his prayer.
Jonah 2:1-10
I think it is worth noting here that nearly every word he prayed was taken directly from the book of Psalms. Psalms was written before the book of Jonah and so Jonah in his time of trouble chose to pray the Psalms of David. You see most of the Bible speaks to us but the Psalms speak for us. And it is amazing what we can find in the Psalms…David wrote them at times when he needed to complain, he wrote them when he was in despair, he wrote them when he was angry and even wrote down some that have been called “Lord destroy my enemies” psalms. Silence my enemies. Destroy my enemies. So there are Psalms for nearly every occasion.
But here’s one thing---don’t wait until you are in a tough situation to read the psalms-cause you might end up somewhere in the belly of a fish where you can’t read the Bible and you have to go from memory and if you were in that situation how much of the Bible would you have committed to memory? So do it before you find yourself in these situations.
Now I want to say a word about this fish. Two things we know here—the Bible calls it a Great fish. In other words it was large and the Bible tells us that it was God who provided the fish. That aside many people are skeptical about this story. I do want to take time to answer 2 questions here that have been presented to the scientific community.
1. Could a whale swallow a human? Is that even possible? In other words is the mouth large enough? First of all pictures here on the screen is a blue whale. The blue whale is the largest animal alive today and may be the largest animal to have ever lived. They weigh between 200,000 and 350,000 pounds. I don’t know who was able to coax them to get on the scales but this is what scientists tell us. They range from 66-98 ft.
So is the mouth large enough? Glad you asked. The
mouth can be about 20 feet long, 15 feet high. So they are definitely big enough to engulf your pastor. Don’t get any ideas.
2. Now, has it ever happened? Sperm whales live on squid which they swallow whole. In 1955 a 405 lb. squid was removed intact from the belly of a whale. They don’t have to chew their food. How could a man survive 3 days in a whale? We don’t know because Jonah is the only person who ever lived to tell his story. But listen to what Jesus said.
Matthew 12:38-41
So Jesus even affirms that this happened and that brings much more credibility to it than any scientist can bring. Regardless of what kind of “great fish” God chose to use to swallow Jonah—it was a miracle and if you can’t accept that miracle then there are a lot of miracles in the Bible you’re going to have trouble with. If you have trouble with Jonah then you’re going to have trouble with Moses parting the red Sea. Trouble with Jesus turning water into wine to making a blind man see for the first time. And then ultimately we can no longer believe in the resurrection. Listen it’s about faith…this is a faithbook-many have tried to discount the Bible, many have even tried to destroy it—perhaps they even read it but they didn’t read it with faith. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
So what can we take away from this message today? 3 principles I want you to see.
1. Sometimes a crisis experience is exactly what we need to get us to pray. Lincoln once said I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.
When Jonah was exhausted being tossed around and nowhere else to turn that was when he cried out for help. Jonah probably thought he was about to die. Listen the belly of a fish is not a happy place to live but it’s a great place to learn. And for 3 days he thought about the difficult place he was in. Eventually he realized that he had sinned…he realized that he needed God and he began to pray this prayer that is almost this entire chapter.
Jonah turned his back on God….it didn’t seem to bother him to be separated from God. But suddenly when Jonah was thrown overboard and now he was facing death it bothers him a great deal that he was separated from God.
The truth is God is never separated from us but we manage somehow to separate ourselves from him. But listen…many times a crisis is exactly what we need to get us to pray.
2. God can hear our prayers from anywhere. 2:2. Let me ask you a question. If you found yourself suddenly alive in a whale’s belly and you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was God who had put you there, what would you say? Would it be (quietly) Lord…hey… need your help. You would be shouting at the top of your voice. Help me Lord, help me.
Some scholars who look at this passage believe Jonah didn’t pray until the 3rd day. I don’t agree. I think as soon as the whale swallowed him Jonah probably began to pray. I think it is safe to assume that God had his undivided attention. There are times when things are tough that we don’t know how to pray or what to pray. I’ve been there. I will admit to you that I have had times in prayer when I have been so broken that I could not find any words---only tears. Times when I began to think Lord have you abandoned me? Do you even know where I am? At those times, I didn’t know it but God was saying yep I know where you are—you’re in the belly of whale.
Jonah may not have had words either so he prayed back the word of God. 8 times in what we read as 9 verses he quoted from the book of Psalms. Jonah is standing on the promises and he’s praying through the scripture. You can do that too. When you’re lonely-you can pray Lord you have said in your word that you would never leave me or forsake me. When you have a need you can pray Lord you said that you would meet all my needs according to your riches in Christ. When you need forgiveness you can pray Lord you have said that if I would confess my sins you would be faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me. Whatever our need God has a promise we can claim.
3rd principle. There is always a price to pay for our disobedience. 2:10. No matter how far you get away from God there is always a way back. No matter how far you get away from God there is always a way back. It may be hard, it may be difficult—but there is always a way back.
Jonah left on a ship bound to Tarshish…but that’s not the way he came back. And his disobedience cost him 3 days and nights in the belly of a great fish and then was spit out onto the seashore. Never fool yourself into thinking that we can run away from God without it costing you something. But always know this. No matter how far away we get there is always a way back.
