Journey through Jonah - Part 2
A Whale of a Prayer
Last week we looked at chapter 1 and preached on The
Disappointments of Disobedience. Because of Jonah’s refusal to obey the
explicit directions of God, he faced:
·
The Disappointment of Unnecessary Trials – vs. 4
·
The Disappointment of Unconvincing Testimony –
vs. 9
·
The Disappointment of Unconditional Truth – vs.
14
·
The Disappointment of Uncelebrated Triumphs –
vs. 16
Intro:
1. Notice Jonah’s Dilemma
He was in about as bad a place as
you can possibly get.
I’ve been in some pretty bad
predicaments in my life, but this one takes the cake.
2. Notice Jonah’s Delay
·
Jonah 1:17
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
·
Jonah 2:1
THEN Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God
out of the fish’s belly.
What took him so long to prayer?
I can imagine him down there for three days trying to figure
out a way to extract himself from that situation.
I can just see him planning and plotting and scheming –
trying to come up with a solution to his problem.
After he had finally exhausted every possible solution,
Jonah thought to pray. Amazing isn’t it??
NOTE: A life of
disobedience will completely destroy a prayer life. You cannot sin AND pray!!!
3. Notice Jonah’s Delight
Several times Jonah acknowledged
that in spite of his disobedience, in spite of his hard-headed delay, in spite
of where he was and what he had done, the Lord heard him!
I am so grateful for a God that
has ears to hear our prayers.
I. The Reason for Jonah’s Prayer
Jonah’s desire to pray was not
prompted by an overwhelming urge to sit at His feet.
Jonah’s decision to pray was not
the result of a Prayer Conference or a message on prayer.
Jonah’s prayer was not one of
intercession (praying for the needs of others).
Jonah’s prayer was quite simply a
result of the fact that he had exhausted every other possibility.
Jonah’s prayer was the product of
a living nightmare.
He is praying from the digestive
system of a creature living in the ocean.
He is surrounded by partially
digested fish and plankton, covered in digestive juices.
It is pitch black. This isn’t Pinocchio
on a little raft with a candle and Jiminy Cricket.
He obviously had to have enough
air to breath. Imagine breathing in gastric gas for three days and nights.
Look at how he described his
predicament.
·
Vs. 2
“…I cried by reason of mine affliction; …out
of the belly of hell cried I…”
·
Vs. 3
– …thou hadst cast me into the deep, in
the midst of the seas; and the floods compass me about: all thy billows and thy
waves passed over me.”
·
Vs. 5 - The waters compassed me about, even to
the soul: the depth closed me round about; the weed were wrapped about my head.”
·
Vs. 6 – I went down to the bottoms of the
mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever.
Jonah was thrust into a time of
prayer because he had experienced the worst experience a person could
experience.
He described it as hell and as
jail.
II. The Resolve of Jonah’s Prayer – vs. “I will look again toward thy holy temple…”
Jonah said, “I am cast out of thy
sight, YET I WILL LOOK AGAIN…”
Jonah felt he had been cast out
of God’s sight.
First of all, that is an
impossibility. PRAISE THE LORD!
David the Psalmist knew that when
he wrote:
·
Psalm
139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy
presence?
·
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
·
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell
in the uttermost parts of the sea;
·
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me.
·
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;
even the night shall be light about me.
·
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but
the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to
thee.
Even though Jonah felt abandoned,
he wasn’t.
But in a time of isolation and
when he was feeling alone, he reflected on a place where he knew God was.
He knew that no matter how far
away he got, or how abandoned he felt, there was a place where God met with his
people!
Sometimes we have to experience
that loneliness and that isolation in order to fully appreciate the
pricelessness of His presence.
III. The Remembrance in Jonah’s Prayer
A.
He Remembered the Lord
Isn’t it funny what we have to go
through sometimes before we will REMEMBER THE LORD?
Had he really forgotten the Lord?
– probably not.
But he had without a doubt
forgotten Who He really is!
He had no doubt forgotten what He
could really do.
Why else would he have waited
three days to pray?
B.
He Remembered the Lies
·
Jonah 2:8
They that observe lying vanities forsake their
own mercy.
OBSERVE – to watch, to
treasure; to celebrate
LYING VANITIES – it literally
means a worthless, empty vapor; an optical illusion; a mirage
How many people today are placing
all their confidence in a mirage?
They think they can do what they
want to do, and it will work out for them.
They think they can ignore the
clear commands of God, and never have a problem.
They think they can pursue their
own agenda and forsake God’s, and He will sit by and let them enjoy it.
That is observing lying vanities!!
Jonah remembered the fantasy
world he had been living in when he bought his ticket to Tarshish (1:3)
Jonah remembered the fantasy
world he was in when he thought he could flee the presence of the Lord. (1:3,
10)
Jonah remembered that living a
life of deceit and disobedience will not produce mercy from God.
·
Proverbs
28:13 He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Jonah remembered the vows he had
made to God that he had failed to keep. – 2:9
…I will pay that that I have vowed.
Conclusion: If you want to discover and experience God’s mercy in
your life, you will need to acknowledge that you have sinned and cast yourself
at the feet of Jesus.
Jonah spoke the truth when he
said – SALVATION IS OF THE LORD!!
(2:9)
