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Commonly known as a Psalm of Thanksgiving, this passage from Jonah is saturated with the psalms themselves.
12 passages from psalms and almost as many from Isaiah and other prophets make up the content of this Prayer of Jonah.
There is speculation that either Jonah derived his prayer from them or they were derived from Jonah’s prayer.
Scholars cannot agree.
My thinking is that Jonah derived the words of his prayer from the abundance of scripture he was familiar with especially the psalms.
Listen to the psalms and the one verse from Job, as they are used by Jonah:
There is a consistency with Jonah and other men of God that presents itself in this - those that frequent the word of God and keep it in their heart, are prone to use it in prayer extensively.
And seeing that both, the psalms and Jonah are the very inspired word of God, it makes sense that there would be so much consistency between the two!
Four observations I’d like to make from the text this morning:
I.
There are places that promote Prayer.
Although we can and certainly should pray everywhere, There are no doubt places that are more conducive for the Christian’s communion with God.
Jesus said that when you pray, go into your private room or closet, and close the door.
The memoirs of David Brainerd cast light upon the importance of prayer as well as the place:
“In the afternoon, though very ill, was enabled to spend some considerable time in prayer; spent indeed most of the day in that exercise; “
Edwards, J. (1974).
The works of Jonathan Edwards (Vol.
2, p. 349).
Banner of Truth Trust.
*It should be noted that Brainerd was deep in the woods of Connecticut at this time.
We are told that many times our Lord retired to a solitary place in the mountains to pray.
We see the Apostle Peter retreating to a solitary place:
Where is your place of prayer?
How mush time do you spend in it?
But these places are the places we choose.
What about the places we find ourselves in because of unforeseen circumstances?
II.
There are situations that are designed to bring repentance.
I think many of us can testify of times that we have found ourselves in a predicament and realized that we have gone astray from the Lord!
What are we to do in such situations?
Repent!
turn from what brought us there and embrace the path God has for us!
We all face situations that would naturally drive one to repent.
But, I wonder if we actually do, or do we rather try some other method of escape?
Perhaps like:
becoming angered or even enraged!
allowing ourselves to dwell on the negative problem , becoming overanxious, and driving ourselves into a depression.
or overreacting and allowing our blood pressure to sore!
And the common denominator between all of these things, is a loss of health, physically and spiritually.
This is not the way of a Christian.
We are to be people, who draw closer to God in all circumstances, even in the belly of a fish!
And what do we say about repentance?
Is it not a change of mind?
Is it not an opportunity to leave what is insane and return to the God of sanity?
If our own actions got us into the mess, why complicate the problem by trying another ungodly way?
A. We need to be aware of what these situations look like.
B. We need to confess our sin and move away from it to God.
III.
There is hope in the spiritual, but futility in the natural.
There is wisdom in verses 5&6 about the natural things.
The waters that surrounded Jonah that was sucking him down to their depths, and capturing him with the tentacles of it’s weeds, was the same sea that provided for his escape in the beginning of this tragedy.
Isn’t that the way it goes for man?
How many times our own endeavors have been the very death of us!
How many situations we embarked upon have become the very thing that would enslave us!
We are so good at ignoring God and disobeying Him, that the situations that should drive us to prayer and worship, become the things that squelch the Spirit within and shrivel up our spiritual life.
Verse 8 clearly points this out!
We are extremely idolatrous people!
The idols of our lives are legion!
Sports, sex, relationships, money, material possessions, work, play,etc.
You name it, and there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the believers and non-believers.
Christians are just as idolatrous as heathens, in some cases more so!
God takes a back seat to everything else in life that we deem more important than God!
Recently, a friend on facebook wrote how you don’t have to attend church to spend time with God.
Although true, What he was really saying, was that I don’t have time to attend church, or I don’t want to go to church.
There is something fundamentally wrong with that kind of thinking.
A believer who is walking closely with the Lord, desires to be in fellowship with other believers and join in corporate worship!
They can’t wait to get to their small group and talk about the scriptures.
They love to encourage their brothers and sisters in Christ!
When I was young, I couldn’t wait for the holidays.
I loved being with my extended family and partake of the stories and feelings of community.
A Christian who doesn’t look forward to getting together with the family of God is a broken believer!
They need a new mindset!
Did you see that?
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
This is what happened to Jonah!
IV.
Confession and sacrifice are the emblems of a changed heart.
Jonah expresses words that sound like someone who has just come to Christ.
Because, they are the words of true repentance!
Zacheus expresses the same thing in Luke 19 when He says that he will repay four fold what he has extorted from people as a tax collector.
I believe that Christians excuse themselves far too often, when they have gone astray.
Perhaps, they don’t think they have strayed?
After all, they aren’t in a fishes belly!
Ah! but they are wayward in their walk with the Lord.
I believe there are some practical situations that we can use as litmus tests to properly ascertain where we are in this spiritual walk.
A. What occupies our minds?
B. How much time do we spend in the word and prayer?
C. How tender are we to the Spirit’s direction?
D. Do we see other’s faults and measure them by our standard?
E. Are we quick to respond defensively when a brother or sister points out a flaw in us?
You see, the mere fact that you think you’re spiritual does not in itself make you spiritual.
The Pharisees and Sadducees, that were coming to the river Jordan to partake of John the baptist’s baptism thought they were clean spiritually; but John told them to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8).
And so we as children of the King, must offer worship and praise to God constantly, and pay to God the things we have vowed as Christians!
What things have we vowed?
To trust Him through every trial.
To serve Him with our whole heart.
To love and obey Him always.
To make our life a living sacrifice.
To assemble regularly with other believers.
To encourage and lift up one another.
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