Jonah 2:2a. I cried by reason of (because of) mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard (answered) me;
Well, it’s a rainy, cloudy, cool Wednesday morning in my neighbourhood. And we are glad for the rain, for none of God’s heavenly blessing has fallen on us for a while. Let’s hope and pray though, that we don’t get it all at once to cause flooding and other damages, as some areas have recently been experiencing it. Anyway, it’s all in God’s mighty hands, and all we can do is have faith and pray for the best.
And today we’ll talk about Jonah. We all know the story: The Lord instructed him thus: ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry (cry out) against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.’ (Jon. 1:2) Yes friends, the Lord sent Jonah to preach repentance to the great but evil Assyrian city of Nineveh. Why? Because the Assyrians were becoming a world power, but their wickedness was also becoming exceedingly great, and as the scholars declare (steups!!!) the Lord has always had concern for the heathen, who are without hope apart from Him.
And that’s oh so true. For if the Lord doesn’t activate repentance in a heathen nation, or person, how else will they find the true and right path eh? So the Lord shows His concern for Nineveh, and sends Jonah to do something about it. But Jonah doesn’t’ want them to be repentant, so he goes in the other direction, takes a ship at Joppa and flees to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Oh how foolish that was! In the first place, we cannot ever flee from the presence of the Lord because of His omnipresence, meaning He’s everywhere at the same time, or always around us. And because of His omniscience, He sees and knows all that we do. So trying to flee from God is simply impossible…and Jonah as a prophet should have known that.
But as the Lord would have it, the ship Jonah was fleeing on, encountered a terrible storm, and like Jesus in the storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jonah was down in the hold of the ship sleeping, while everybody else was praying to their god, and were lightening the ship by throwing stuff overboard. And like the disciples, the ship’s captain came down into the hold and said to Jonah: ‘What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us (your God will consider us), that we perish not.’ (Jon. 1:6)
After that they cast lots to see who had brought the evil on them…and the lot fell on Jonah. Obviously the men got on his case, wanting to find out why he had done such a thing to them. And after he explained the situation to them, they asked what they should do to solve it. Jonah said to them: ‘Take (pick) me up, and cast (hurl) me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto (for) you: for I know that for my sake (because of me) this great tempest is upon you.’ (Jon. 1:12) But the men didn’t do as Jonah said, and still tried hard to row the boat to shore, but without any success.
Eventually ‘they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us (do not charge us with) innocent blood: for thou O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up (picked up) Jonah, and cast him forth (hurled him) into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.’ (Jon. 1:14-16)
Yuh see friends, how our great God moves in mysterious ways! Even in trying to teach Jonah a lesson, He also showed the heathen on the ship His awesome power and brought them into His fold. And we know that Jonah did not perish in the tempestuous sea, for that would not have dovetailed with the Lord’s plans. Instead, the Bible says that the Lord had prepared a big fish to swallow up Jonah, where he spent three days and nights in the fish’s belly. Now can you imagine that? Jonah swirling around in the guts of a big fish with all the stinking stuff in there.
But yuh know what? Even in that unfortunate and disgusting situation, Jonah was wise enough to pray to the Lord. He says; ‘I cried by reason of (because of) mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard (answered) me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst (heart) of the seas; and the floods compassed me about (surrounded me): all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about (surrounded me) even to the soul: the depth (deep) closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms (foundations or bases) of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me (closed behind me) for ever: yet thou hast brought my life from corruption (the pit),
O Lord my God. when my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in (went up) unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities (worthless idols) forsake their own mercy (LOVING-kindness). But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. and the Lord spake to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. ‘ (Jon. 2:2-10)
And the moral of the story is? We have at least two lessons to be learned from Jonah’s predicament. The first is obviously don’t try to run from the Lord. It’s so much easier to do what He asks us to do the first time. Look at the terrible situation Jonah found himself in simply because of disobedience. And the second lesson is that in whatever foul or fearful state we might find ourselves, our best bet for relief is still prayer. No matter how disobedient we are, and subsequently fall into dire circumstances, the Lord’s ears are always open to our prayers. And tomorrow, if God spares life, we’ll continue looking at Jonah’s most interesting story.
Now let’s go home declaring (chuh!!!) our Wednesday Wail, letting the whole world know our wonderful position in Christ Jesus. Altogether: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’
And if we endure with Jesus to the very end, then it’s been promised that the future will be even more glorious than we can ever ask or imagine. So let’s be wise and plan to meet at the very end nuh! Much LOVE!
…do what the Lord asks the first time…for the consequences of disobedience can be gut-wrenching…neither will the Lord change His mind…
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