A Desperate Man’s Desperate Prayer | Text: Jonah 2:1-10
Opening Statement:
When last we left Jonah, he was in the belly of the great fish. He was in a bad fix and a bad way.
As Jonah drops down into the belly of this fish, feels the great heat perhaps, and breathes the putrid air, he realizes where he is, even though he is in the dark, and further recognizes that he is without hope and beyond help.
God is allowing Jonah to experience a taste of what the Ninevites will experience in judgment – hopelessness and helplessness if no one goes to them. Today we are going to discuss “A Desperate Man’s Desperate Prayer.”
I) God Teaches Us When to Pray (2:1-3)
I suspect that the most fervent and powerful prayer Jonah ever prayed was from the belly of a fish.
The first ingredient of Jonah’s prayer is admission.
Now, notice that Jonah admits this is God’s hand of discipline in verse 3.
At this point Jonah is no longer resisting the will of God; he is no longer rejecting the word of God – he is about to re-enlist in the work of God.
However, first, there is admission of his wrongdoing and the right of God to discipline. Now he is on his way to restoration.
II) God Teaches Us What to Pray (2:4-7)
The second ingredient of Jonah’s prayer is restoration.
Notice verse 4.
Up to this point, everything about the life of Jonah has been in the opposite direction of God’s authority.
Now, Jonah is admitting his sin and turning back to the temple of God – a statement of recommitment for the Old Testament saint.
Did you catch this? Jonah would not pray before – he wanted to run from God; he did not want to speak for God. He would not even pray to God for the sake of these frantic sailors who were afraid of drowning, “I’m not on speaking terms with God.” Now, however, Jonah says, yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
Sinclair Ferguson writes, “Isn’t it marvelous that God has mercy upon His servant Jonah before Jonah will preach that God will have mercy on Nineveh.”
III) God Teaches Us Why We Should Pray (2:9-10)
The third ingredient of Jonah’s prayer is appreciation.
Keep in mind that Jonah has not been given a promise of deliverance. He was not thankful because he was back on dry land. He was not thankful that he had not drowned. He was thankful that God had turned his heart from rebellion and had caused him to call on the name of the Lord once again. Jonah was thankful for his salvation.
What can Jonah sacrifice? He cannot sacrifice an animal – he has been swallowed by one. So, what can Jonah sacrifice to God now? He has gone too far – what can he offer to God? Jonah can offer to God the same thing we can. When David repented and wrote Psalm 51, a great hymn of repentance, he wrote, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51:17)
As Jonah offers up to God the sacrifices of a repentant heart and a humbled spirit, God sends down the biggest case of indigestion any fish has ever experienced, and this fish spits up Jonah onto dry land.
In Closing:
Is there something in your life that God is desperately trying to get your attention about? Is there something God wants you to repent about? Remember running from God always leads down, while repentance always takes us upwards.
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