Jonah 2:1 ( ESV )
§
Then-The word then is used after we are
told that Jonah had been in the belly of the fish for three days. How long will
it take sometimes for us before we are willing to submit to what the Lord wants
us to do? How long will it take us to confess our sins instead of fighting?
§
Prayed-Jonah was alive and not dead during
this time. He knew who he had to talk to the Lord about his current situation.
(He may have been lying on his back surrounded by all that was within the fish.
Can you imagine the smell? The darkness?) He knew he had to come to His God for
forgiveness and deliverance. What will it take to get things right with Him? I Jn. 1:8-10
Jonah 2:2 ( ESV )
2saying, “I called out to the Lord,
out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and
you heard my voice.
§
I called-(Note the tone of the prayer it is
not just a prayer for future deliverance but praise for the deliverance that
God would give him.) Jonah’s faith in God should be noted here. His prayer is
full of thoughts from the Psalms. This should tell us how that Jonah was also a
man whose heart was covered with the Word of God.)
§
My distress-Has the idea of to bind or
persecute. Other translations use the word afflicted.
§
He answered me-Even after Jonah’s
disobedience God would still hear Jonah. We truly do serve a merciful and
forgiving God. He is the God of the second, the third and more then we ever
deserve as far as starting over again.
§
Sheol-Depths of the grave. He considered
the fish to be his grave.
Jonah 2:3 ( ESV )
3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and
the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.
§
Cast-To
fling in a neglected, abandoned condition. Sailors were only executing the
punishment that God had designed for Jonah.
§
You
cast-This discipline was from God. Heb. 12:4-11. God will discipline his children to bring them back
home to Him. This is His goal to conform us into His image.
§
Waves-Idea
is that they were rolling waves that kept coming at Him.
Jonah 2:4 ( ESV )
§ Your
sight-Jonah had been running from God but found the end goal not what he wanted
it to be after all. Yet God still heard Jonah’s prayer. Psalms 31:22
§ Look-With
attention and pleasure he would one day behold the holy temple.
§ Holy
temple-To the Jew the temple represented the presence of God. Ps. 11:4 and Ps. 18:6 We also
see this lived out in Solomon’s life at the dedication of the temple. I Kings 8:38-39
Jonah 2:5-6 ( ESV )
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded
me; weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars
closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
§ Waters
closed in over me-He was completely compassed about by everything that the fish
had swallowed to the point that even sea weed was wrapped about him. The word
for wrapped has the idea of too entwine someone or something.
§ Mountains-People
during Jonah’s time did not know this fact, yet Jonah talks about the depths of
the underwater mountains.
§ O Lord my
God-Jonah had not lost his salvation through disobedience but his fellowship
had been broken. Now he cries out to this merciful God as He is still His God.
The same is true for us as believers we will never lose our salvation but our
fellowship will become strained due to sin. The incredible part is that He is
still our God.
Jonah 2:7-8 ( ESV )
7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into
your holy temple.
§ Fainting-He
had grown to the point that he was overwhelmed with all that was around Him.
§ Remembered-At
the point of being overwhelmed is when Jonah calls out to God. In the midst of
the darkness of the hour don’t forget the only one who can truly deliver you.
Remember His goodness and cry out to heaven and He will answer.
§ Idols-Jonah
had seen the futility of the sailor’s gods earlier. They were simply objects of
wood that could neither feel, taste, see or hear the cries of these misguided
souls. Who will we trust during our times of crises?
§ Forsake-They
leave our God and cling to desperate hopes and prayers that will not be
answered. When they do this they forsake Jehovah who alone is full of
compassion and grace.
Jonah 2:9 ( ESV )
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what
I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
§ Thanksgiving-He
would celebrate who God was and His love for Him. Think about this for a moment
when is he going to offer thanksgiving to God? Not at some latter point but now
in the very midst of the trial he will praise Him in the storm. He would thank
Him even now. How dark is your world right now? Even now we can thank Him for
what He has done. He knew that His God had a steadfast love that would never
leave him or forsake him.
§ Sacrifice-Always
involves a personal cost. Am I willing to sacrifice for the kingdom?
§ I have
vowed-Will I like Jonah from this point on keep the promises I have made to
Him?
§ Salvation-The
very source of salvation will always be in the Lord. The sinner must realize
his place before God and His need of His salvation that only He can give. The
believer must keep in his heart and soul that it is only the Lord who will
deliver him daily. Men will always seek deliverance through politics,
education, works, and false religion when it is only the Lord who can deliver
us and Him alone.
Jonah 2:10 ( ESV )
§ The fish
had been more obedient to God than Jonah had. God though heard Jonah’s prayer
and he sets him free. Salvation only comes from the Lord.
APPLICATIONS:
1. Are you
as a believer still struggling with God over some areas in your life? What is holding you back? Will you not take
care of these areas today?
2. Are you being
disciplined by God for disobedience? Will you not cry out to Him to forgive and
deliver you?
3. What or
whom are you trusting to be your salvation? No water baptism, church or good
work will save you but only as Jonah stated, “Salvation only belongs to the
Lord.” Only Jesus can save your soul. Will you not call out to Him today?
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