Jonah was a prophet of God from the northern kingdom of Israel. God called him to go
to wicked and cruel people and preach judgment and repentance. Assyria was a rising
world power in the mid 740’s BC and was expanding its territory with ruthless invasions
of other nations resulting in torturous bloodbaths. Nineveh was its capital and the
heartbeat of the godless regime located on the Tigris River, about 200 miles north of
modern-day Bagdad. The near eastern peoples hated and feared their coming wrath.
Whether a prophet of God long ago or a modern-day man or woman, our lives are full
of little surprises. This small account contains timeless lessons for those surprises. We
will never cover them all, but for four weeks, we will hit each chapter, and try to gain
some help about the Unanticipated Life. Today will be Unanticipated Direction.
1. Know yourself - you are far more sinful than you think
a. Jonah was a prophet of God. Used to advise kings, and instruct Israel, God’s
mouthpiece during his time. He was comfortable. He liked what he did. He was
religious and highly respected, and an example to orthodox Jews everywhere. But God
sent a message that he didn’t like, and within a moment he was on a ship going
as far as he could in the opposite direction.
b. The whole book is about sin and grace. God’s grace reaches out to sinful people.
He did not give up on Jonah. It’s far easier if you recognize your sin, but even if
you feel like you are OK, or if you feel like you can get away from God, He will pursue you.
You’re not OK. We look at Jonah and think, I can’t believe a prophet
of God would just not do what he is told. Self-righteousness. Pride. You can’t
understand grace unless you realize that we all run.
2. Failure is inevitable -
a. God will use it. Sometimes God might even call you to do something that you will
fail. God did Jonah. He knew that Jonah would immediately reject God’s
instructions.
b. When our lives are hit by storms, or when we are given paths and instructions
that we don’t like and fail God, we must avoid getting discouraged. Even though
Jonah may have thought it was the end of God’s use for him, we know the rest of
the story. God was not done with him, and God would use his failure to bring
about his purposes.
c. Some of you feel like a failure today. You have sinned egregiously, and the guilt is
piled high. Some people feel like their entire life has been a disappointment to
lots of people, especially God. It’s easy for some to feel guilt. Some of you have
had a small string of failures. Some of you have had a tough week spiritually.
God will use failures. This is not to say “don’t worry about it” when you sin, just
don’t go jump in the lake.
3. God’s loving kindness will ALWAYS pursue his children
a. So, Jonah goes down to Joppa, pays his own way, goes down to the bottom of
the ship, and falls into a deep sleep - all variants of the same word. We tend to
think of the storm as God’s wrath upon disobedience. We need to see it as the
loving hand of the Lord pursuing people. Pursuing his prophet, pursuing the
wicked Ninevites, even pursuing idolatrous sailors, God loves people.
b. Tim Keller described this as tender violence. Our perspective is that God is going
to get him in wrath. Ours should be that God is going to love him. Many of us
interpret the disciplining hand of God as harsh, but it is working for us good. God
will go to great lengths to love you back to himself if you know him. If you are
not his child, he will go to great lengths to love you to him. Either of you turns to
him.
4. Unwilling witnesses are a thing
a. So, the sailors are desperate, they wake Jonah, and instruct him to call on his God (he
informed them that he and God weren’t on speaking terms). They cast lots and
interrogate him, and get some answers. He tells them that he is a Hebrew and
serves the God who created the land and sea. Sometimes most of us are not
thinking clearly when we run from the God who created the sea on a boat.
b. He says that they need to throw him over, but they don’t want to. So, they row,
but the storm grows worse, and they ask God not to charge them with an
innocent life lost, then they throw him in. Once they do, the seas calm, and they
are afraid of God, made sacrifices and vows to follow God. By Jonah’s life, he
actually fulfills his calling, just to the wrong people. He testifies to God, admits his
sin, and tells them what they need to do to avoid the consequences of being on
the same boat with him. Achan
c. We don’t know if these sailors were converted permanently, but we can draw this
lesson: our lives will be a testimony to others as we weather storms. God has a
way of showing his tender violence, recapturing your heart, and glorifying his
name through every circumstance…even if we are unwilling. Do people see that
Christ is your treasure through the storm? How long will it take for you to give
glory to God? Who will you endanger as you rebel.
5. Resignation and repentance are different
a. Jonah was willing to accept death to save the lives of sailors, but not the
Ninevites. I guess he figured he was dead either way. So, he resigned himself to
his fate, because he and the other sailors understood this storm was of divine
origin. However, even in his willingness to die, there is no repentance.
b. When paths of life, instructions, or storms come into our lives, we often resign
ourselves to difficulty and hardship. However, we waste the opportunity to let
God mold us and shape us. We often are so focused on ourselves and our pain,
play the victim, wallow in self-pity and we don’t realize that our painful
circumstances are the perfect environment to have sinful thoughts, attitudes,
patterns, habits, and other satanic footholds in our life be rooted out.
c. Repentance is/should be a regular pattern in all of our lives. Even when we think
that we are completely innocent, persecuted, or unjust, unlike Job, we can admit
that there could be an area that God is working on. We can adopt his statement
of commitment that “even if he slay me, yet I will trust him.”
6. You can run but you can’t hide
a. This is actually good news. As hard or as far as we run, God can find us, and come
for us. He loses none of his sheep. Even in what Jonah thought would be his
death, God rescues. When you have run out of options, when you can no longer
press on, when the burden gets too heavy, God can still rescue. Stop running.
Start repenting. Stop rebelling, start relenting. Confess your hard heart, ask for a
softened one.
