God Hears in Even When You are in Deep!
JONAH 2:1-10
Donovan W. Myers
Rosemount Missionary
In Jamaica there is a popular idiom that says “When trouble tek yu, pickney shut fit yu.” [when you are in trouble, even a child’s shirt will fit]. An addict can only get help and begin to recover when he has hit rock bottom. If the foregoing two statements are correct, then it seems to me that we could consider ourselves fortunate when we are in a desperate situation. This is certainly not because of the situation itself. Yet it is the opportunity that the situation might present to you which points out resources that you never knew you had available to you. For example, the adrenaline rush that people experience in order to perform extraordinary feats. Or the creative budgeting and spending that you do when money is not available; yu tun yu han and mek fashin [you create something out of nothing]. Or even the emotional strength that you find out that you have to deal with a bad interpersonal or family problem.
Last week we started to look at the story of Jonah. He was a man who had run away from his God given task to warn Nineveh about God’s impending wrath on them. He was not only inattentive to duty but he willfully disregarded God’s direction on his life.
What was Jonah’s sin? He was guilty of self righteousness for he felt that the people of Nineveh were not as deserving of the same privilege of salvation as the Jews. He was guilty of indifference. He could not care less about the people of Nineveh. “So what if they perished?” he seemed to say. He was also guilty of choosing the way of convenience. He went in the direction which posed no threat to his safety or his comfort - he chose the easy way out.
As a result, he found himself in a predicament. He found himself in the belly of a fish in the bottom of the ocean. He was out of the will of God. He was suffering because of his actions and he was desperate for a second chance. The beauty of our God is that he not only pays attention even though we are inattentive to our responsibility, but he is active in working for and on our behalf. Contrary to some notion of God having wound up the clock and left it to unwind while he sits by (and with a smirk on his face, I may say); our God is active in the affairs of men. He is not simply passive in siting and watching, but he is active in doing.
Maybe you might be faced with the perplexing question of “Is God interested in me?” Or “Does he care about what happens to me?” My friend, the answer is yes. But how does God show his interest and activity? Three ways are seen from the story.
Firstly, God Initiates Reconciliation. It is interesting to note that Jonah is the one who began the quarrel and parted in anger. Yet it is God who counteracted his anger. It is so easy for us to forget how our place and wag our fingers in the face of God. Yet his reaction is not to fight fire with fire! He would have been in the right to demand an apology or refuse to have audience with us; yet his manner is much more radical than that. Instead he provided Jonah with an opportunity both to see himself and to escape his approaching demise. God provided a great fish to swallow him. What seemed like certain death was God’s means of grace and salvation. He even sharpened Jonah’s focus by allowing him to remain there for three days and nights. Finally he got his attention.
We must be careful to remember that God’s gracious heart is always open towards us and he initiates and carries out Salvation for us even though we do not deserve. Rom. 5:8 says, God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So don’t despise when you suffer because of your own doing - it is God’s gracious way of providing you with a mirror to see yourself and a door of opportunity to move on.
Secondly, God Listens To Prayer. One of the most potent resources that is available to the believer is prayer. For God listens when we pray. Certainly prayer should be an on going feature of our lives; but God wants us to pray when we are in trouble. In our times of despair, under the sense of our sin - like Jonah in his predicament, we too must pray. No place is amiss for prayer. Wherever God casts us, we may find a way open towards heaven. For he who has Christ dwelling in his heart, by faith, carries his altar everywhere with his. For men may shut us out of communion with others, but not from communion with God.
What a comfort to know that we can call upon God at all times and find a listening ear. So Paul in Ephesians 6:18 encourages us to “...pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Also too, in Rom. 8:26-27 he says, “In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”
Thirdly, God Delivers From Destruction. It is amazing to see how Jonah uses the Scriptures (especially the Psalms) in his prayer is remarkable. There is power in the word of God to rekindle faith. Faith comes by hearing; hearing by the word of God. Jonah is in the deep. What a picture of a man’s deep personal despair when he is outside of the will of God. He is in hell. Jonah was literally cast there by the hand of the seamen but really by the hand of God. It is in that situation that he call to God who lifts him up. A striking contrast to the downward spiral he was on. Sin put you down, but God lifts you up.
It is instructive to note that Jonah deliverance began by his decision to make good on his vow to God. This requires both personal determination and will and dependence on God. He will never look again in the direction of Tarshish. Instead, he desires to look at the temple. He speaks in modest terms, conscious of his guilt - he does not even dare to speak of dwelling there, simply to be able to look at it again.
Oh the comfort of word of God which tells us, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” (Rom. 9 :15-16)
My friend, are you at the end of your tether? Have you found yourself in a desperate situation? Take the comfort that Jonah had and do what he did. Be careful that you not hold on to false comfort which only forfeits God’s grace. Instead, in true dependence and faith find purpose in your life through thanksgiving, service and obedience. Amen.
