Welcome back to the second part of the lesson on the book of Jonah. If you haven’t read part one I encourage you to read that lesson first. I believe the Holy Spirit will tie everything together, to fit perfectly like a glove. Even though Jonah is a short book of only 4 chapters, there’s so much to unpack to this story. So many things God is doing. Were only in the 1st chapter, and dealt mainly with the first 3 verses.

We left off with Jonah running from God. As if that was going to work. As if that ever worked. No one has ever run from God, whom God wanted to use for a specific purpose. Even when Judas betrayed Jesus, he fell into the will of God. It was Judas’ betrayal that delivered Christ to the cross. Your failures in your life can still align you up with Gods will for your life. Your mistakes, your screw ups, your stubbornness, your ignorance, you being “imperfect” does not affect Gods ability to use your flaws to bring forth his will. He’ll use the good, he’ll use the bad. He’ll use your obedience, he’ll use your disobedience.

God could have easily chosen another person to go to Nineveh after Jonah declined the task. He could have easily assigned someone else to do it. Someone who would’ve been honored to do it. Someone who would have just been happy to be used by God. But God assigned this task to Jonah before the foundation of the world. 

Most things that God wants us to do, are some of the hardest things to do. In fact, this is usually the case. If God told you to go to the Hospital and heal the sick, you would jump at the opportunity to do that. But if God told you to go and preach to a group of modern day Nazi’s, and your of Jewish descent, how eager would you be to carry out that task?

God does not ask us to do things that are easy, he asks us to do things that require faith. That’s what it requires. It doesn’t require strength. It doesn’t require wit. It doesn’t require determination. It requires faith. That regardless of what he asks us to do, we will be obedient because what he’s asking us to do, is the best thing to do; Even when we don’t feel that way.

Jonah didn’t “think” it, or “feel” it, so he didn’t do it. The same way when we don’t “think”, and when we don’t “feel” like, we don’t do.  Like not apologizing to someone we offended, because we don’t “think” they deserve one. We don’t feel we were in the wrong, even though what we did clearly goes against scripture. 

Or fighting fire with fire. Who reading this likes to fight fire with fire? I love fighting fire with fire. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. If you offend me, I like to offend you right back. You name call me, I’ll name call you back. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. This is the way I love to react!

This is certainly the flesh’s way of reacting, but it’s not Gods way. I need to work on my faith more in the areas where my thoughts and my feelings become more of a priority then being obedient to Gods word. Now I don’t go around calling people names externally, but I’ve many people names internally!  Jonah felt so at with his decision to disobey God, that when he got aboard the ship, he went down below and fell into a deep sleep.  A sleep deep enough that he was sleeping through a Hurricane.

The Bible says in verse 4 Chapter 1 of the Book of Jonah: “But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken“. God didn’t abort his plan just because Jonah decided to go awol. God wasn’t finished with the plan he had for the Ninevites or with Jonah, even though at this point in time, Jonah was finished with God. 

God is not “finished” with us, because we decide we are finished with him. God is not finished with us, when we are finished with ourselves. Even when you fall into temptation, God is not finished with you. Even when you keep struggling and stumbling over the same things. God is not finished. Even when you quit God, God doesn’t quit you. He can’t. The blood of Jesus and the price that he paid is too valuable for God to quit on us. I’ve done more than enough things to justify God walking away from me. And if you’re honest with yourself, you will come to the same conclusion. 

I’m not talking about mistakes we made unknowingly or accidentally.   I’m talking about when we purposely go out of our way to commit sin. Knowing it’s wrong, but deciding we’re going to do it anyway, and being comfortable in the decision, just as Jonah was with his. We are more like Jonah than you may think. 

You are more like Jonah than you thought you were. This book isn’t about a Man being swallowed by a fish, it’s about a Man coming face-to-face about something he couldn’t see in himself. Because once you get past all the religious rituals, and all the religious prayers, and all the religious sayings, and all the religious Facebook posts, God strips away the religious from the man and reveals the heart. And if the heart isn’t right, the rituals and the Facebook post don’t mean anything. 

Jonah observed the religious rituals and practices, but what was missing was the commandment that Jesus put above all other commandments.  Love for your neighbor. All humanity. Not just for the people who looked like him and worshipped like him. Because though the Ninevites who were Assyrians, worshipped false Gods and participated in sinful activities, when Jesus was coming to die on the cross, he wasn’t just coming to die for Jonah and the rest of the Hebrews, he was coming to die for the sins of the entire world. Where Jonah should have had pity, mercy, and compassion on those who were on their way to perish, he instead delighted in the anticipation of their destruction that was soon to come. 

“he was coming to die for the sins of even those you don’t like”

Before you look out at the World, and shake your head and wag your finger, pray for them first, because God’s love is greater than God’s judgment. I know this because the Bible says God so “loved the world”, so God sent “love” first, and Judgement second. He loves first, and judges second. He forgives first, and judges second. Glory to God. He’s long-suffering first, and judgement second. He’s patience first, and judgement second. He’s mercy first, and judgement second. Glory to God.

If that’s Jesus’s nature, then it should have been Jonah’s nature, and it should be our nature. We judge last, and love first! Verse 5 said: “The seamen were afraid, and each man cried to his god. And they threw out the ship’s articles in the ship, into the sea in order to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship; and he lay there, and was fast asleep“. While Jonah was sleeping through the Hurricane, the seamen was on deck tossing whatever they could find overboard, and praying. They weren’t praying to God, but they were praying to their idols. But know one thing, when a Man prays, especially Men who are far too often filled with stubbornness and pride, the situation is dire.

God is usually our last line of defense, sadly. Especially for a Man. Because most Men are prideful. When we get to praying to God, it’s because we’re losing the battle. The ship was being broken and all their attempts to save it failed. In verse 6 the Captain of the boat goes down below to wake up Jonah. He says to Jonah: “What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not“. This was a desperate plea, versus a request.  The Captain pleaded with Jonah because what they were doing up to that point, wasn’t working. Jonah’s God was their last resort. 

They exhausted all options and ideas. There’s one more man on the ship that hasn’t prayed, let’s wake him up! Maybe his God will listen. This ship is symbolic to our lives. We often wait until we’ve spun our lives into a Tempest, before we pray to God asking him to deliver us out of it. Jonah is not at that point yet, but it’s coming up soon. 

The Seamen had everyone onboard the ship cast lots to see who was the person who caused this Hurricane to come upon their ship. The Seamen on this ship were superstitious. God will reveal himself even to the foolish folk. I know because I’m here preaching this lesson.  He will use the foolish things of men to confound the wise.  And we were all once foolish in our thoughts and in our living.  That was the time when God would reveal himself to us through the foolish things that we were practicing and believed in.

These Men were superstitious and thought casting lots would reveal why their ship was being destroyed. As foolish as that may have sounded, it was not too foolish for God not to reveal himself to these Men. As Holy as God is, and though he rules from a high place, he is also dual-minded. He is Holy, but he also knows the mind and the habits of Man.  We see this fully in the manifestation of God in the flesh in Jesus Christ.

And he’s long-suffering enough, to reveal himself through the foolish things of men, if it means gaining your soul. God revealed himself through the Seamen’s superstition, that Jonah was the reason their ship was being swallowed up by the Hurricane. 

They asked Jonah: “Please tell us, for what reason this evil has come on us. What is your business? And where do you come from? Where is your country? And of what people are you“?

Jonah replied to the Men, and the Men became afraid. Jonah said “I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land“. The next verse the men responded: “Then the men were afraid with a great fear. And they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Jehovah, because he had told them“.  Jonah was forced to make a full-on confession. He told them he was a Hebrew, his God Jehovah was the God of heaven and all Earthly creation, and that he was fleeing from his presence.

The Men may have heard of Jehovah prior to Jonah’s confession. The Hebrews had a reputation throughout the region of Gods works through them. This reputation could have exacerbated the fears of the Men onboard the ship. The Bible doesn’t say one way or another, but what we do know is that the Men had “great fear” after Jonah told them who he was, and what he had done. 

We have all done things we shouldn’t do, including the Men on this ship, but when your consequences bring about a Hurricane, there’s great reason to be afraid. God is rebuking Jonah’s disobedience, while at the same time proving himself amongst the Men on the ship who didn’t know God, that their Gods were powerless to deliver them out the storm that he had put them in.  Only he had the ability and the power to deliver them out of this Hurricane tempest.

God can glorify himself amongst men, while at the same time chastise you for your disobedience.  I used to believe that I had to be in God’s will at all times in order for Gods plans to come to pass.  But God has shown me that his plan comes to pass when I’m walking upright, or when I’m knocked to the ground.  He sees my falls and already designed an alternate route around them.  Glory to God.

The Men on the ship Gods didn’t have the power to control the elements. Only God can make it rain. Only God can make snow. Only God can create a tornado and cause an Earthquake. Their Gods proved to be powerless in their time of need.  

The Men asked Jonah, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us“? Jonah said just throw me overboard. Jonah knew if Jehovah is doing it, ain’t’ nothing you can do!  Jonah wasn’t stupid. He knew he couldn’t swim to shore from where they were at. The Men on the ship knew it too, which is why they were hesitant to throw Jonah over. What Jonah was saying was, throw me off the ship to die so no one else will perish also. 

The Men kept rowing because they didn’t want to kill Jonah by throwing him off the ship, even though Jonah told them it was God doing it.  It shows that these men had some integrity of character.  But God left them no choice.  God is determined. If he chooses you, you are chosen, and he will prevail over you. In verse 14 and 15, the Bible says: “The men cried to Jehovah and said, We beg You, O Jehovah, we beg You, let us not perish for this man’s life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O Jehovah, have done as it pleased You. And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging”.

By the end of this ordeal, the Men on the ship who were calling on other Gods, started glorifying God and calling on the name of Jehovah. The Bible says they feared God exceedingly, offered sacrifices to him, and vowed vows. The first step in worshipping God properly, is having a righteous fear and reverence of who he is. To worship God properly, you have to revere him. You have to fear him. Not the way a child fears a ghost, but the way a child fears his or her Father. 

Without proper reverence, you cannot worship God correctly. Jonah didn’t fear God prior to that moment. When we deliberately defy Gods words, we don’t fear him prior to that decision. If we did, we wouldn’t make the decision to defy him. We’re like a spigot, hot one minute, cold the next minute, and sometimes just warm. Jonah knew who God was, what God was capable of, but had a severe lapse in judgement. When we sin against God deliberately, we exhibit a severe lapse in judgement.

We look at the temptation to sin, we conclude that it is desirable, even though it can be deadly.  Because the wages of sin is death. While Jonah was being tossed overboard to his death, God was creating disciples on the ship through Jonah’s poor judgement and deliberate disobedience. Had Jonah listened to God from the beginning, he never gets on that ship, and the Hurricane never comes.  If Jonah would have listened to God from the beginning, the Hurricane never comes and Men on the ship don’t get to see the real God.  They never vow vows and make sacrifices in his name and glorify him and the one true living God. He can save when you are obedient, he can save when you disobedient.  God doesn’t need you, you need God!

God doesn’t need us in order to reach those who are lost, God prefers to use us. Preference and need are not interchangeable. They do not mean the same thing. It is a privilege for us to be used by God. It is not a privilege for us to allow God to use us. Never think you’re doing God a “favor” by listening to him and carrying out his task. Jonah concluded that it would be better to be thrown overboard and into the sea to die, then it would be to remain on board the ship.

We must carefully look at the steps Jonah took that led him up to this point. He did not get here in an instant. We almost never do. Before any of this could happen, Jonah had to accept a thought that was contrary to God’s will. This is where our disobedience begins. It is a “thought” before it becomes an “action”. We think it, we like it, we agree to it, we do it. Jonah rejected God’s way; Jonah preferred his own way; Jonah agreed in his heart to do it his own way; Jonah then went his own way.

 

What do you do when God’s plans for you leave you disappointed? Jonah was hoping for one outcome, while God was preparing the people of Nineveh for a different outcome. It’s not like God didn’t know Jonah’s heart. It’s not like God was taken by surprise when Jonah ran away. God is going to do something to Jonah’s heart that Jonah couldn’t do himself. 

There are things we do, things we despise, things we think that we can’t fix. No amount of reading, no amount of studying, and no amount of praying is going to fix it. God hears our prayers, sure, but he’s not going to snap his fingers and fix your heart. He’s going to take you through something, or put you in some circumstances that will forever change how you once were, to how he needs you to be.

It could be a season of sickness, or a season of financial struggles, or a season of loneliness, or a season of uncertainty. But God uses experiences to break us of the things that are destroying us on the inside. For some people prison is the circumstance. It’s a place where free will is severely limited, and choices are very few. For Jonah, it was the belly of a whale. A place he couldn’t run from, and a place where he had no options. He had to go to God. We have to face God. And if you are running from him, or neglecting his calling on your life, then he will send a whale for you. He will take away the things that you’ve been running to.

If You Are Neglecting Gods Calling He Will Send A Whale For You

It will be the things you love and like.  The men on the ship threw Jonah overboard and the winds from the Hurricane ceased. Then God sent a great whale that swallowed Jonah, and he was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights. And it was then that Jonah started to pray to God. Jonah could have prayed to God when he was onboard the ship.  He could have prayed for him and the ship crew to be delivered.  God would have heard Jonah. In fact, the Bible says the Captain went down below the ship to wake Jonah up so he could pray to his God for help, because their prayers to their Gods did not deliver them from the storm. 

But there is something that is not talked about nearly enough in Church. We have not been taught how to properly pray.

There is a difference between God hearing our prayers, versus God responding to our prayers. God always hears our prayers, but he does not respond to all of our prayers. Chapter 2 verse 1 says “Jonah prayed to Jehovah out of the fish’s belly“, after being in the fish’s belly for 3 days and 3 nights.

It was then Jonah prayed, and God responded. It was at that point that Jonah’s heart turned towards God’s will. The reason why God hears some of our prayers versus responding to them, is because the person who’s praying heart hasn’t turned yet. 

Oh we mean well when we pray to God, but many times our heart hasn’t yet repented. I’m talking about “brokenness” versus “regret”. Regret will lead you to ask God for forgiveness concerning something you did, while brokenness will lead you to avoid the thing(s) you did that caused the regret in the first place.

God was waiting for Jonah to repent, and after 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the Whale, Jonah finally submitted. The stubbornness and the pride is broken. But look what it took? When reasoning with us fails; when pleading with us fails; when our conscience fails; God is forced to send a whale in your life. You can’t turn to the left; you can’t turn to the right; the only place you can turn is up. Even though Jonah was now at his lowest point, God was not done sculpting Jonah’s heart and Jonah’s character. 

Jonah was now ready to carry out Gods plan, but he still did not agree with it. Hmmm. Ever have your parents tell you to do something that you didn’t want to do, but you did it anyway or else you would get in trouble?

Like being told you to clean your room, while mumbling under your breathe. But the work got done or else you’d be grounded? That’s Jonah. Humble enough to comply to God’s commands, but still in opposition to what God’s outcome will be. God allows the sun to rise on the righteous and the wicked, Matthew 5:45.  That means on the people you love, and on the people you hate. The people you like, and the people you dislike. 

We don’t always like Gods plans for us

We don’t always like Gods plans for us. Let’s be honest. We didn’t like our Parents plans for us a lot of the time.  No sex before marriage?  One of the hardest things for a Teen boy and a maturing young man to abstain from. Until someone gets pregnant. Then you wish you had followed Gods plan. We can really sum this up, this whole thing with one word.  Trust.  Trust is something that’s earned, it’s never given. Faith and trust are two words that are intermingled together.  God is the only thing you can actually put your faith and trust in, and he’s provided the evidence already if you value the things in which he has already done.

Everyday the Sun comes back up. Every night the stars are out as they were the night before. The moon is back out right on schedule. Evidence of his trustworthiness is all around us. But we need more. We need to know that we can not only trust him with upholding the universe, but we need to know that we can trust him with the intimate details of our lives.  

We must first believe that he even cares about what’s happening in our life.  Do you even care about what I’m thinking? Do you even care about how I feel? Do you even care about what they did to me? What they said to me?   Do you even care about the reasons behind why I feel the way I do about these people?

I’ll go talk to them as you instructed, but do you know why I feel the way I do about these people God?   After Jonah’s prayer in Chapter 2, in the last verse God tells the whale to release Jonah. And in the next Chapter verse one and two, God tells Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh to preach his word, and Jonah got up and went forth.  

God asks us to do hard things. If they were easy, everyone would do it. You cannot teach a person how to have a good heart. There’s no amount of sensitivity training classes you can take that will change a person’s heart. Only God can change a person’s heart. We see it in the book of Acts with Paul on Damascus road. We see in the book Acts with Peter while praying on the roof. We are seeing it now in the making with Jonah. Though God released him from the whale, Jonah did not yet release the hate he had for the Ninevites. So God is in the process of still kneading out Jonah’s glaring weaknesses.

As I stated before, before we start getting all high minded in ourselves about Jonah, I want you to sit and think about anyone, anything, or any group of people you don’t particularly care for. Could be Democrats. Could be Republicans. Could be Liberals. Could be Homosexuals. Could be pro-abortionist. Could be Black Lives Matter supporters. Could be “Proud Boy” supporters. Could be pro Trump supporters. Could be people who are pro-mask.  Could be people who are anti-mask.  Could be people who are pro-vaccine.  Could be people who are anti-vaccine.  Could be ex-convicts. Could be non-black people. Could be non-white people. Could be foreigners. Could be immigrants. Could be Police Officers. Could be people who criticize Police Officers. Could be Politicians.

I think most people collectively wouldn’t mind seeing many Politicians go to prison for a lot of immoral things that they do. What if God sent you to preach to a bunch of corrupt officials, who you knew God was going to spare? Would you be happy they repented, or would you be disappointed God didn’t punish them? Now look at Jonah with the same high minded point of view some of you probably had before we dove deeper into Jonah the person, and not just “the story”.

The greatest day of your life spiritually, can be the worst day of your life physically. I would love to see a lot of unjust people in this world reap punishment for their actions. For their crimes. I find myself desiring that more than desiring them to come to repentance and become servants of the Lord. We are all more like Jonah than you think.

I pray that as a Church, we desire to see the unjust saved and justified by Grace, then to see them utterly ruined, which is what God’s judgement brings. No one can stand up to God’s judgement. When God brings about consequence, he and only he can deliver the person out of their circumstances. We pray that you give us the heart to not just love the righteous but also the unrighteous. 

To seek sacrifice, mercy, and Grace before judgement. I pray that we don’t look at Jonah with a sharp eye, but as a reflective image of what we may unknowingly be ourselves. Jesus said someone here will betray me during the last supper with the Apostles. The Apostles’ response to this declaration was “Lord, is it me”. Fully understanding that Jesus knew their hearts better than they did. NEVER THINK THAT IT CAN’T BE YOU! Don’t ever think that. It can be anyone who’s not carefully watching. Carefully not watching themselves, not their neighbor. We spend too much time peeking over our neighbors fence then we do tending to the weeds in our backyard.

If your heart is like Jonah’s, you are not alone.  That’s why his story is in the Bible. For Gods glory and our edification. We’re coming up on the last 2 chapters of this amazing book. The chapters are short, but the lessons are deep. We will be going into the final lesson on the Book Of Jonah. The climax of this amazing story.  Not being swallowed by the whale. That is not the meat of this story.  But the full conversion of Jonah’s heart.

By God’s grace I hope someone reading this will have a conversion take place inside their heart. Someone reading this is dealing with the same heart condition that Jonah suffered with. And it’s never been spiritually addressed. I want you to examine your heart. I want you to pray to God to give you discernment so you can objectively be objective when looking at yourself. Ask God to reveal any areas in your heart you have neglected to address or simply made an excuse for.

God is telling us that we can no longer make excuses for bad behaviors, attitudes, and ideas. We need to change. Please join me on the final lesson, part 3 on the Book Of Jonah. I pray that this has been a blessing to you. I pray for Gods grace to cover you and your Family. Until next time, God Bless and keep God first.