Jonah: Prayers of Desperation Sermon 2 Part 1

by Bill Klapwyk
((Grantsdale Community Church)Hamilton, MT)

Second sermon in the four sermon series:
Jonah: The World's Worst Disciple

God sometimes puts us in dire circumstances that cause us to be obedient. Sometimes that obedience is only out of desperation.

Attention Getter:

How many times have you ignored God until He was the last resort, the only hope left?

We tend to do that right? We go along doing our own thing, relying on our own resources, our own understanding, until we find ourselves in a situation where God is our only hope.

Then we decide, maybe I should pray about this. Maybe I should seek God’s help.

Introduction:

If we think back on those times, we’ll find that we found ourselves in those situations because we were being disobedient to God.

Our disobedience could be in many forms. We may not have been listening for His voice. Maybe we weren’t praying and seeking Him. But I think we will find most times we were running from what He was calling us. He asked us to do something we just didn’t want to do.
So we go along ignoring God until He puts us in a situation where we have no choice but to seek Him. Then we decide to reach out to Him. Then we decide to listen to Him.

Until the next time comes around.

That’s where we find Jonah this week. Last week he was thrown into the sea by the sailors to save their ship and their lives. Now Jonah finds himself in a desperate situation. He realizes that his only hope comes from the one place he’s been running from. His only hope is God.

Transition:

God uses our disobedience to teach us more about Himself. He uses our disobedience to help us grow closer to Him. To make us more like Jesus. Every one of us should find joy in our convictions because it teaches us about God.

We learn more about God and ourselves every time He convicts us. God teaches us more about how:

1. God Is Sovereign
2. God Convicts Us
3. God Is Merciful

Let’s read Jonah 1:17-2:10 and see what Jonah learned about God and about himself.

Jonah 1:17–2:10

17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; And the floods compassed me about: All thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: The depth closed me round about, The weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; The earth with her bars was about me for ever: Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: And my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

The very first thing we see is the sovereignty of God.

God Is Sovereign

“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.”

The Hebrew word translated “prepared” here is “mana” and you will undoubtedly recognize it from the desert mana from heaven.

Others translate it here as "provided" or "appointed." It could even be translated "assigned." "Prepared” (KJV) implies God made a fish to swallow Jonah. "Provided,” or “Appointed” imply that God sovereignly orchestrated a fish to be at that place, at that perfect time, to serve His purpose.

I really had to dig into this one in order to come to my conclusion that either "provided" or "appointed" are better translations. I think even "assigned" would fit well here. You see, mana, in this context, has the connotation of knowing all about items and having authority over them. It’s used four times in the book of Jonah and all four times it’s used to show God’s power to accomplish His will. Here it’s used to show His sovereignty over creatures of the sea, in 4:6 it shows His sovereignty over plants, in 4:7 it shows His sovereignty over crawling things, and in 4:8 it shows His sovereignty over the wind.

Chapter 2 is comprised almost completely of Jonah’s prayer which is considered a psalm. Not in the Book of Psalms, but the genre. In his prayer we get to see where Jonah shows some maturity growth and better understanding of God’s sovereignty.

He says “thou hadst cast me into the deep,” “All thy billows and Thy waves.” Jonah recognizes and acknowledges it was God’s action and God’s sea. He’s telling God You cast me into Your sea and Your waves and Your billows passed over me.

Jonah tried running from God and has been confronted face on with God’s sovereignty. He’s come to the realization that there’s no place he could go or hide that God does not control. That God does not have authority over.
Jonah’s come to a deeper understanding of God’s sovereignty.

How many times have we tried running from God to only be confronted by God’s sovereignty? How many times has God tossed us into His sea and let His waves and His billows pass over us?

I found myself wondering how much I have actually learned about God’s sovereignty when God tossed me into His sea. My reflection turned out to be a great experience and if I’m honest I found that while I learned some about His sovereignty I definitely should have learned more.

I hope you find yourself wondering the same thing and I hope you take the time to reflect on it. Only you can decide for yourself what you’ve learned.

When God raises up a storm and tosses us into the sea we have two choices. We can choose to hide in our prideful disobedience, do nothing, and grow further from God. Or we can be like Jonah and face ourselves, face our sinful behavior and learn more about God.