You Can't Keep a Good Man Down
Jonah 2:1-10
I think that there’s something in all of us that likes to rally around those who’ve been knocked down but they always seem to find a way to get back up. Rocky is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. I get fired every time I watch the underdog overcome his opponents; it never gets old to me. Because I love to see someone who, when it appears there’s no way out, comes through.
Jonah’s story also serves as proof that you can’t keep a good man down. He was thrown overboard during the storm; he was swallowed by a great fish. For three days and three nights, he was tossed around in the belly of that great fish as it swam into the depths of the sea, but then the Bible tells us, “the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” 2:10. Jonah gets up, wipes the seaweed off his face, and then the Bible says, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time” 3:1.
Many of us are like Jonah today. God has called us to something greater yet we’ve refused to embrace this calling because of our fear, uncertainty or simply because we just don’t want to do it. And because of our disobedience, we’ve been swallowed up by our circumstances. We are in need of an escape. But I believe the reason we remain trapped by our circumstances is so we can learn some valuable lessons. It took Jonah three days and three nights to learn those lessons. How long will it take you to learn the lessons of your entrapment?
There are four things about Jonah’s character that I want for us to see. First of all, Jonah was…
1. A man of PRAYER (Vv. 1-6)
There are some important questions to ask regarding Jonah’s prayer life at this particular point in his journey. When did he pray? Who did he pray to? What did he pray? First, let's look at when he prayed.
Jonah was afflicted when he called out to God. Not much has changed since the days of Jonah. It’s amazing to me that many of God’s people wait until they’re afflicted to call out to God. Rather than going to God before we wind up in the fish’s belly in the first place, we wait until we are stuck. So here’s what I want us to understand…if we continue to go our own way in rebellion against God’s will, the result will be pain and hardship.
Some people will look to anything and everything to help them in their moment of affliction: pills, books, counselors. But listen to Jonah: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me.”
I thank God that I can call on Him anytime…even when I’ve neglected Him before, God still hears our prayers and He still answers them. No matter who you are or where you are, you can call on God in your affliction. Jonah’s experience is a proclamation of hope. He cried out in his affliction and found deliverance — and so can we. The first step in getting out of the fish’s belly is to call out to God, to pray.
A second important aspect of Jonah’s prayer is found in whom he prayed to. Even though Jonah rebelled against God, he didn’t forget that God was still God. And more importantly, God didn’t forget Jonah. Jonah didn’t earn this relationship with God and he certainly didn’t deserve it, but he knew that he could still talk to God through prayer.
I think the problem many believers suffer from today is that they think that have a broken relationship with God when actually they just have broken fellowship. There’s a big difference. Some of us have gone our own way, leaving the will of God, and have been battered by the storm and swallowed up in into the fish’s belly.
So many people walk around wearing masks, pretending to be someone they’re not so that other people will like them. And it’s one thing to wear our masks around each other, but then we try to do the same thing with God. Some people pray as if they’re trying to impress Him, but we need to remember that God knows us. He knows your heart.
Jonah’s prayer was open and honest. If we think we can impress God by trying to act like everything’s ok when it’s clearly not then we’ve got it all wrong. I don’t know where people came up with the idea that once they get saved they’ll never have any more afflictions in life. The good news is that God can and will deliver us from those afflictions, but like Jonah we have to be open and honest with Him.
It’s also important to notice what Jonah prayed. Jonah didn’t use original thought in his prayer, he simply prayed the Word of God. Eight times in these few verses he quoted from the Psalms. Jonah knew the Scriptures, and he was standing on the promises of God by praying the Word of God. That’s an excellent example for us to follow when making our petitions to God.
If you are a parent, you should be praying Scripture over your children. If you are a believer, you should be praying scriptures for your friends who are lost. We should be praying the Scriptures over our missionaries. The reason so many people today stay in the fish’s belly is because they never call out to the Lord in prayer.
Praying the Scriptures doesn’t start with us. It starts in the heart of God. We receive God’s promises through His word and we stand on those promises. Jonah had God’s Word in his heart the whole time but he wasn’t willing to obey it. Remember, blessing comes from obedience. As soon as Jonah got back to the center of God’s will, he was released from the bonds that had enslaved him.
You can’t keep a good man down. Why? Because he’s a man of prayer. When does he pray? In his affliction. Who does he pray to? God. What does he pray? The word of God. The second thing I want you to notice about Jonah is that he was…
2. A man of PURPOSE
Jonah came to realize that there was a purpose for his affliction. Do you remember Paul’s words:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).
Just because something has been made right doesn’t make it right. Here’s what I mean…Yes, God can make “all things work together for good”. But that doesn’t justify disobedience. Three weeks ago, I told you that there are people who will try to justify their sins simply because certain things in their life turned out all right. In fact, some people are pretty good at trying to justify their sin. But the fact that Jesus used Jonah’s affliction as a picture of His own death, burial and resurrection doesn’t mean that Jonah’s rebellion was justified.
Read Vv.7-8
In today’s terms Jonah was basically saying, “OK God, I’m at the end of my rope. I’ve abandoned you and I’ve bought into the lies of Satan. I’ve been holding on to the worthless idols of this world, and I’ve lost the grace that could’ve been mine this whole time.”
Bottom line is that some of us simply have to get to the point when we have nowhere else to turn to but God…to the place where we’ve lost all hope unless He comes through. But how much easier would it’ve been on Jonah if he’d remembered God before he sailed for Tarshish? If you think you’ve found a ship to Tarshish, “Remember the Lord!” Stop hanging on to things that will only cause you to forfeit God’s grace.
Paul urges us not to be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2). A lot of us need to put away certain idols that we worship each and every day. Many times we don’t even realize it but an idol doesn’t have to be a golden statue. It can be anything that is present in our lives that we place above our relationship with God…that includes ourselves.
You say, well I don’t put anything before God…Well answer this for me then…Why is it that we have nearly 100 people here on Sunday morning but Sunday night rolls around and there’s less than half of that? Even, worse…Wednesday night rolls around and there’s even less than half of that. Because we’ve placed other things before God. That’s why. You can come up with whatever excuse that helps you sleep better at night but the bottom line is that God is not the most important thing to you on Sunday night and Wednesday night.
Jonah looked back, remembered the Lord, and the first thing out of his mouth was, “It wasn’t worth it!” Don’t let the enemy distract you by allowing you to get away with your sins. Because if you continue to hold on to it, you’ll be forfeiting God’s grace.
3. A man of PRAISE (v. 9)
Now when I read this my first thought was that if Jonah could thank God from the belly of a fish, surely we can thank Him despite whatever situation we’re facing. But I want you to notice that Jonah didn’t ask to be delivered from this fish. He was just simply praising God in his affliction and giving thanks.
The Bible says, “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18).
Did you hear that? Giving thanks is God’s will for us. That’s one of the ways He tests our faithfulness. Because there’s a big difference between those who walk by faith and those who walk by sight. Those who walk by sight are quick to give thanks to God when things are good…but when affliction comes their way, they want to give up and feel sorry for themselves. Anyone can do that. But those who walk by faith choose to be thankful even when things aren’t going their way. Let me give you a couple of examples from the Bible:
When Job lost everything he had and everyone he loved he responded by saying, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15). And the Bible says that God not only restored these things to Job, but He doubled them.
When Paul and Silas were chained to the prison guards, it would’ve been easy for them to cry about how unfair their punishment was. But instead, the Bible tells us…
…at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed (Acts 16:25-26).
Had Paul and Silas been like a lot of modern-day American Christians, Scripture would’ve read, “At midnight, Paul and Silas whined and complained and questioned God.” But instead, like Jonah, they praised the Lord in their affliction, and God set them free.
Praising God and giving Him thanks, even in difficult situations, will do the same for us. It will set us free. I can say that because I just returned from the other side of the world and I’ve seen it. We shouldn’t praise God based on our circumstances, we should praise God for who He is and for what He’s already done.
Maybe the reason you haven’t been freed from your affliction is because you haven’t praised God. Maybe your problems won’t go away, but I can tell you one thing…it’s impossible to keep a person of praise down!
4. A man of PERCEPTION (Vv. 9-10)
I don’t want you to miss what Jonah says in the last part of v. 9: “Salvation is of the Lord.” In other words, God is the One who delivers us. Because as long as there’s still a few strings for us to pull, deliverance can be credited to our own efforts. We’re not saved because we deserve it, or because we’re good, or because we understand the difference between right and wrong. Salvation and deliverance are “of the Lord.” Jonah finally got it. Not only was he a man of prayer and purpose and praise, but now he was a man of perception.
Jonah finally realized that there was nothing else he could do. He finally realized that only a loving God would take him back after his deliberate rebellion. He finally realized that his help had to come from the Lord.
I don’t know if you’ve seen this in your life or not, but God is pretty good at bringing us to the end of our rope. When we’re rebellious, He has a way of getting us to the place where we have no other choice but to say, “Lord, it’s out of my hands; there’s nothing else I can do. Help me.”
We need to stop trying to deliver ourselves and become men and women of prayer, purpose, praise and perception, knowing that deliverance only comes from the Lord and understanding that unless He comes through we’re stuck. Jonah finally came to that place where he said, “I can’t, but He can. Salvation is of the Lord.”
The apostle Paul said, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Until now, Jonah had said, “For me, to live is self.” How would you complete that sentence? For me, to live is…what? …selfishness? …business? …pleasure? …my boat? …money? …my kids?
I really love what God did here in the final verse. He didn't keep Jonah in the belly of that fish one second longer than it took to get him to repent and acknowledge his dependency on a loving God. God spoke, and out came Jonah.
If you’re ready to be released from your affliction, resolve to be a person of prayer, purpose, praise and perception. Repent and God will deliver you.
