First Baptist Church
Jonah 1:17-2:10
Seaweed Prayers
July 14, 2002
Have you ever watched a season finale knowing the program is going to end on a cliffhanger? Do you remember all the hoopla over "Who shot J.R.?" If you were a Dallas fan, you remember the long wait to know what happened next. I remember watching Batman when I was younger, and every so often they would do a 2 part program. Part 1 would end with Batman and Robin in a predicament in which there was no way out. The Riddler or the Penguin had the dynamic duo stuck — when suddenly, the announcer would tell you to tune in next week to see if our caped crusaders can get out. And the next week that same announcer would say, "When we last left our heroes...." And of course, Batman and Robin would save the day.
Well, we are taking a look at the book of Jonah and last week we began to look at the prodigal prophet. The prophet who didn’t want to bring redemption to the people of Nineveh, so he ran, or sailed away, as far as possible. No sooner had the ship gotten out to open sea, God threw a storm its way, things were so bad that the ship itself thought it was going to sink. Jonah finally admitted to the sailors that he was the reason for this supernatural storm. At Jonah’s request the sailors of that ship reluctantly threw him overboard and the storm stopped and that is where OUR hero was when we last left him . . . sinking deeper and deeper into the cold, dark depths of the Mediterranean Sea. I’m sure you’ve been on the edge of your seat all week wondering how things were going to turn out!
Now comes one of the great miracles and most disbelieved stories in the Bible . . . God sent a big fish to swallow Jonah, thus saving his life. As I said last week, if God can create the heavens and the earth, create you and me, send Enoch and Elijah to heaven without dying, part the Red Sea, send Jesus from heaven, bring people back to life, heal the lepers, the blind, the lame, the deaf, resurrect Jesus, then is it that impossible for God to send a huge fish to swallow Jonah for a few days? I don’t think so.
Of course, if you were Jonah you were thrilled to be alive, but to live in a fish’s belly for 3 days, yuck!! Imagine the smell, imagine the . . . Oh, we won’t go in that direction. I take Jonah as a historical fact, nothing less.
In this 2nd chapter, Jonah describes the terror and intense anxiety of being helpless against the ocean currents swirling around him, the waves crashing upon him, pushing him deeper and deeper. Jonah tells us that the water was closing in on him and there was no way back to the surface. In verse 5 he speaks of the horror of having water enter his throat and seaweed tangle itself around his head. And then finally he actually hits the bottom. We don’t know how deep the sea was, but just imagine the fear of feeling your feet strike the bottom knowing there was no way back up as your lungs are about to explode.
Have you ever experienced something like that when you were swimming in a pool or in a lake? About 13 years ago, when I was a youth pastor, I took a trip with about 27 junior highers, ending up in the Florida Keys snorkeling. I saw some beautiful coral not far from where the group was swimming, and I went to investigate, the coral appeared very sharp and was close to the surface. I had to make sure I was on top of the water, and as I swam over the coral it became darker and it seemed that the coral reef was not going to end. I began to panic, I kicked harder and my breathing was shorter and I was gasping for air. Finally, I got out from the reef, but I was amazed at the panic that set in. And I was an experienced swimmer. I swam competitively in high school and college, I was a certified life guard.
So, I can only imagine what Jonah is thinking as he sinks deeper and deeper into the Mediterranean Sea.
Just as Jonah was about to hit the bottom of the sea, stubborn old Jonah finally prayed . . . He asked God for help. I’m sure his prayer was nothing fancy, probably just two words, "Lord, help!" And hear comes the beauty of the book of Jonah, God answered that prayer. God had a fish on standby, and when Jonah prayed, He ordered this creature to rescue him. The fish swallowed Jonah whole and ingested him into a place where there was a pocket of air.
I read a story about 3 ministers who were talking about effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system. One minister said, the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of worship. The 2nd suggested real prayer was conducted on your knees. The 3rd explained they both had it wrong, the only worthy position was to pray while stretched out flat on your face. By this time the phone man could no longer stay out of the conversation. He said, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended 40 feet above the ground."
How about you, can you identify more with the pious pastors or the telephone repairman? I think most of us can sympathize with the repairman. We’ve been down that road many times in our lives. When all is going well, we don’t give God too much consideration. After all, who needs God when all is going well? Actually, we do. We tend to forget about God and go after life on our own terms, until we realize that we are in a sinking ship, or worse yet, we are the one who is sinking, deeper and deeper in to the abyss.
There are a few things we can learn from this episode in Jonah’s life. First, God answers our cry of distress even when we are guilty. Jonah wasn’t on his way to Nineveh when he was tossed overboard. He was running from God. He was guilty of disobedience. That’s why he was in the water. Maybe that rings a bell for some of us, maybe there are some here this morning who are in trouble right now precisely because of your disobedience. And if you’re wondering, "Is there hope? Will God have mercy on me and hear my cry of distress?" Take heart from Jonah — Jonah was as guilty as they come, but God gave him another chance.
Listen to the same scenario in Psalm 107:10-15: "Some sat in darkness and in gloom, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High [like Jonah]… Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and GOD delivered them from their distress; GOD brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their bonds of affliction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works!"
If your disobedience is the cause of your distress, repent and cry to the Lord. He will answer you!!
Second, God answers us in spite of his judgment. Notice verse 3: "For you cast me into the deep." While it was the sailors who literally picked Jonah up and threw him into the water, you know who was behind it all. Jonah knew that God was the author of all that was occurring in his life. God was angry at Jonah, and nothing could be worse than to have the Creator of the universe angry at us and disciplining us. In Psalm 119:71 we read, "It was good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn your decrees." Not many of us would like to make that comment, yet most of us only learn when we go through the difficult times in life.
Third, God answers us and delivers us from impossible circumstances. Verses 5 and 6 describe the extremity of Jonah’s plight: "The waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around my head. I sank down to the roots of the mountains, and the earth barred me in forever."
I don’t know for sure why it is, mostly I believe it is the work of satan in the lives of believers, but it seems that in the Christian life distresses and troubles come in batches. They don’t get spaced out in proportion to our powers to cope. Circumstances develop to the point where we can’t see any way out. It’s at those times that we need to remember Jonah. It was an impossible situation. But not with God! Nothing is impossible with God. Of course we need to remember to come to God. If we don’t cry out, then we will be left to our own devices. For when we cry to the Lord in our distress he answers us and delivers us from impossible situations.
Even as I say these words, some of you are thinking that’s baloney. You’ve witnessed tragedies in life. You’ve seen loved ones who were too young, die. You have seen horrific atrocities, and you wonder, okay, so where is God. Make sense out of that Mr. Pastor! And frankly, I can only tell you I trust and believe that God has a plan and a purpose for each of us and our loved ones. Unfortunately we don’t get a glimpse into the heavenly thought process. I believe when someone dies, who we think shouldn’t, we just don’t have insight into God’s ultimate plan.
His plan is for redemption, but that doesn’t make any sense when we grieve. It didn’t make sense last year or 30 years ago, and it still doesn’t today. Yet, I believe God delivers us, I hold to the words from Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Sometimes, the greatest gift God can give us or our loved ones is to bring them into a new life with Him in heaven, where there is no pain, no hunger and no tears. Even though that is 100% against what we want.
Fourth, God answers our cries of distress in stages, not all of which are comfortable. We must get out of our head the all or nothing notion of answered prayer. We can be fairly sure that when Jonah cried out to God he did not say: "O God, put me in the belly of a fish for three days!" He probably said, "God save me, have mercy!" But God’s answer came in stages. The belly of a fish hardly seems like salvation. But it was. Jonah was granted enough consciousness to realize he has been spared from drowning and that there is hope. He doesn’t complain about his surroundings. He accepts God’s first stage of salvation as a guarantee of dry land, and concludes his prayer in the fish’s belly with the great affirmation, "Salvation belongs to the Lord."
Don’t disregard the partial works of God. If he chooses to save and to heal by stages He has his good purposes, and we ought to be grateful for any improvement in our condition. A fish’s belly is better than weeds at the bottom of the sea. Sometimes, God answers us in stages, not all of which are comfortable.
Finally, God answers us because He is merciful. We must remember that is a key fact about our God, He is a God of mercy, slow to anger and abounding in love and grace. So the next time you find yourself sinking to the depths of the cold and unforgiving waters of life, know that God desires more than anything that you would just call on Him. James 4:7 tells us ‘draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’ We must make the first step and I pray that today, you will make that first step toward our God of love.
