Jonah and the Mystery of God’s Mercy
Part 3: Waiting in Sheol
This is a summary of my notes for a 6-part Sunday School lesson I recently led. It is an adaptation of my previous posts on Jonah along with some points based on the book, The Prodigal Prophet by Time Keller.
We have reached a point in Jonah’s journey where he is now confronted with the severe mercy of God. The Lord meets Jonah in this moment of crisis and brings his amazing grace and mercy to bear on the situation. The funny thing about being hurled off a ship into the raging sea is that you sink. And Jonah did that very thing. He sank down to the bottom of the sea. This is where God met Jonah and rescued him. The prayer of Jonah that we are about to talk and think through together will recount his journey downward and God’s appointed rescue.
When I read this part of the story and picture it in my mind, I always imagine Jonah bobbing up and down on top of the water with the sailors watching as a giant fish appears and swallows Jonah. But we will see as we go through the passage, that this is not how Jonah relays the story. His account has him sinking to the bottom of the sea before God’s appointed fish comes and rescues him. There are two points of interest to think about.
- First… The story of the sailors takes on a weightier impact. Imagine being those sailors and you have just hurled this man into the sea and watched him sink and disappear from sight. Then the seas cease from their raging and the sun comes out to reveal a beautiful and glorious day. They have no idea of God’s appointed rescue of Jonah. This is why they “feared the Lord exceedingly.” God had seemingly accepted their sacrifice of Jonah.
- Second… The severe mercy of God is an apt phrase. God’s appointed rescue of Jonah only occurred when Jonah was at his most desperate point of being alone at the bottom of the sea with no other hope than the mercy and grace of God to intervene.
God’s severe mercies in our lives are typically the same. He often rescues us in a manner that is both uncomfortable and difficult as he teaches and leads us into repentance and faith. The cauldron of learning humility and dependence is through the hardships of suffering. Think about Abraham (man of faith), Joseph (man of trust), David (man after God’s heart), Elijah (man of obedience), and Peter (rock of the church) to name a few. Think about Jesus learning obedience through suffering. I need only think about any point in my life to see the severe mercies of God working on my hard-hearted independence to bring about humility and brokenness. All designed to point me to Jesus.
Desperate Prayer
Current State of Mind
Let’s make the assumption that this prayer is on day three of Jonah being in the belly of the fish. Take a second and reflect on his current state of mind. What is he feeling in this moment? {PAUSE}
- He has to be feeling desperate, hopeless, and helpless.
- He doesn’t have any indication of how long he’s been in the belly of the fish.
- In the darkness, the days all seem to run together and I’m sure this adds to his disorientation and desperation.
- He’s all alone in the darkness. Isolated and cut off. Left to himself, he has all the time he needs to ponder his feelings of remorse, shame, and guilt.
Alone in the belly of the fish, he is unable to escape the reality around him. Unable to sleep it off. Unable to believe the lies telling him everything is well and good with his soul.
Waiting in Sheol
It is in his distress and desperation that Jonah prays and cries out to the Lord.
- Jonah likens his situation to that of being in Sheol… the grave.
- That is truly what it must have felt like. It’s completely dark. It’s filthy. It’s putrid in the belly of this giant fish.
- To say it was unpleasant does not do justice to this situation.
Jonah is beginning to see the folly of his previous line of thinking. He is beginning to think a bit more clearly.
- It is here in the depths of Sheol that he has finally cried out to the Lord. And the Lord heard him!
- The Lord not only heard him… the Lord answered him!
- The man who was trying to flee the presence of the Lord finally realizes that even in the depths of his despair and distress in the belly of a fish at the bottom of the sea, the Lord is present with him.
Do you feel that as well? In our most unclean spiritual state, Jesus is right there with us. Patiently waiting.
Our Desperation
This is good news for all of us! News that we all need to hear on a consistent basis. When we are most overwhelmed, most troubled, most anxious – these are the times when we need to cry out to the Lord.
- He is there with us in our most desperate moments. We only need to acknowledge our desperation.
- He is there even when we may feel he is far away.
- When everything around us seems hopeless, our loving heavenly Father is present.
- When I look up into the night sky, I know the moon is there. Whether it is a Brightly Lit Full Moon or a Hidden New Moon, the moon is in the exact same place it has always been. My visual perception of it has nothing to do with the fact that the moon is present.
We can rest assured that our heavenly Father not only hears us but answers us! He’s not just passively watching us. He is active in our lives as he works his grace and mercy in and through us.
Take a moment to reflect on a time in your life when you were in a desperate and hopeless situation. One in which you cried out to God for help and rescue. Did God hear you? Did he answer?
In the Hands of God
Cast into the Deep
Jonah is here acknowledging that this was all by God’s design.
- Jonah made the decision to run away but it is the hand of God that brings him to this point.
- Jonah made the decision to be hurled into the sea but it is by the hand of God that he finds himself at the bottom of the sea inside the belly of a fish.
This feels a bit odd at first glance. It seems as though Jonah is blaming God for tossing him into the sea. Yet, as I think about it, I can see this pattern in my own heart as well. When I survey my recent hardheartedness and review my own experience of being cast into the sea, I would frame it the same way. Although I fully acknowledge that I put myself in that spot through my decisions, looking back I can see God’s mercies leading me along the way. So even as I acknowledge my personal disobedience leading me to the bottom of the sea, I can also see the hand of God right there with me as he is appointing the great storm upon the sea and my personal rescue and restoration.
Driven Away
“I am driven away from your sight.” Jonah’s stated purpose was to run from the presence of God. He wanted to hide from God.
- This is a reminder that sometimes God will give us exactly what we want.
- Jonah was running from the presence of God. He wanted isolation and to be left alone. He wanted nothing more than to sit and meditate on the seeming injustice of it all.
- Jonah now realizes that he has been driven away from the Lord by his own desires and decisions.
- God is letting Jonah have a small taste of what it really means to flee the presence of the Lord as he is forced to sit and wait in Sheol. Isolated and cut off.
Despair to Hope
In his despair, Jonah sees hope. He knows that the Lord is a merciful God and he is exactly where the Lord intends for him to be.
- Hope rooted in trusting our God is a powerful ally.
- Jonah is learning patience and obedience while he waits in Sheol. Instead of being bitter about his predicament and scheming to find an answer, he is learning to find hope in the grace and mercy of God.
- He can take comfort in knowing that God appointed the fish to swallow him and provide a means of salvation.
- It is hope in the goodness and faithfulness of God that allows Jonah to anticipate seeing God’s holy temple once again.
Drowning in the Sea
Descending into Despair
Jonah is describing his descent through the water to the bottom of the sea.
- Waters closed in… Deep surrounded… Weeds wrapped about… Roots of the mountain. These are all images of his drowning experience.
- Have you had a similar experience in life? I’m not really talking about a physical drowning like Jonah was facing, but a spiritual drowning as you live in the world.
- The relentless waves of the world, the flesh, and the devil continually pressing in upon you and seeking to drag you down into despair.
- Our enemy is threatening and scheming to drown you at every step of your life. It’s not that he is unhappy and seeks to bring you harm. No.. his aim and goal is your complete and utter destruction. He wants you to feel as helpless as Jonah felt descending to the bottom of the sea. He wants you to feel no hope… Only despair and anguish.
God Gives Hope
In the midst of this depressing and hopeless situation, God remembers and appoints salvation.
- At his most desperate and hopeless point, Jonah was rescued. When it all looked impossible, God provided an escape.
- The point where death seemed inevitable, the Lord saved Jonah.
- The divine solution to Jonah’s life circumstance was to bring about an impossible salvation.
Have you experienced that? How often have I prayed for a solution to a difficult situation and given God a step-by-step plan to provide an answer, only to see God answer me with a divine solution that is 100 times better than anything I could have imagined?
I don’t think a giant fish would have been in our toolkit of solutions, but praise the Lord that he can appoint one for our salvation.
God’s Timing
It is helpful to remember that the Lord could have appointed the fish to swallow Jonah on top of the water but he waited until Jonah was at the bottom of the sea. Why? Because he loved him.
- Do you believe that? Do you believe it was out of love that the Lord waited until Jonah was near death on the bottom of the sea?
- It’s a hard thought. It’s difficult for me to be in the middle of my despair and know that God loves me right where I am in the moment. That his lack of rescue is not a punishment but a mercy.
- What did Jonah need in his life at that moment? He needed to be broken. He needed to see the consequences of his sin. He needed to feel the consequences of his sin. He needed to sit in desperation and consider his heart.
- That is love, my friends… God loved Jonah so much, that he allowed him to go through this pain and suffering because it was for his spiritual good. It was necessary to “rouse this sleeper” from his slumber and apathy. Jonah needed time to remember the love, mercy, and grace of God in his life.
- We all need this.
- Remember John 11:5–6 // “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” (ESV)
Reflect on a time in your life when God made you wait in a difficult situation. How did you respond in the moment? What about now? When you think back on that time, how does your heart respond now compared to how it did then?
Vanity of Idols
Remember and Pray
Finally… Jonah remembered the Lord and prayed. As his life was fading and the shadow of death was upon him, Jonah prayed. There is a significant lesson in this that we want to learn and incorporate into our daily lives.
- When dealing with our sins, we need to keep short accounts. What do I mean by this? There should be a daily examination and searching of my heart for any indwelt sin that needs to be dealt with. There needs to be a daily call to repentance. I should continually draw from the well of grace and renew my strength in the healing power of God’s mercy.
- The threat of death is a painful and last resort type of warning. We should aim for gentle reminders from the Lord, not jolts to shock us from our slumber.
- When Jonah remembered, he repented. Instead of running away from the Lord, this time Jonah ran toward his merciful God in prayer. This should be our regular response when sin is revealed and we have the thought to run and hide. Our fear and shame should point us to the cross of Jesus.
Worthless Idols
Vain idols cause us to lose hope. They are a wisp of air. They are the morning dew that evaporates when the heat of the day arrives. They are nothing. They are the objects, ideals, and desires in which we place our trust and hope instead of trusting the Lord God Almighty.
- What were Jonah’s idols? His nation. His profession. His self-righteousness. A simple boat on the sea.
- Our idols lead us astray and require everything from us. We will forfeit everything to the harsh master of an idol. These idols are never, ever, satisfied with what we give them. They always want more from us.
- We will forsake the steadfast love of the Lord for the immediate gratification of sinful pleasure.
- Do you feel the shock of that statement? The steadfast love of the Lord is there for me at all times. Yet, I would often rather forsake the warmth of my heavenly Father’s embrace for a momentary touch from sin’s cold dead hands.
Thanksgiving is the Cure
- Thanksgiving humbles us and keeps us humble.
- Thanksgiving teaches us to remember the faithful steadfast love of the Lord in our lives.
- Thanksgiving aligns our hearts with the will of God.
Remember >> Repent >> Repeat
This is our mantra. A heart filled with thanksgiving will remember the goodness and mercy of God. A thankful heart will repent of all arrogance and pride. A thankful heart will consistently be about the business of remembering and repenting.
Think about the idols in your life for a minute. How do you see the cure of remembering in prayer with repentance and thanksgiving loosening the grip of idols on your heart?
God’s Sure Timing
Appointed Time
When the time of Jonah’s appointed circumstance had arrived, God brought about its completion. God’s timetable is not based on our comfort but on His sovereign will. There was absolutely nothing that Jonah could do to end his situation in the belly of a fish. That doesn’t mean Jonah didn’t probably spend a lot of time trying to rectify this situation. It does mean that at some point, Jonah reached his desperation point and surrendered his will to the Lord.
- The fish swallowed Jonah at the exact right appointed moment and then vomited him out when the trial was complete. Not a moment before and not a moment after, but exactly when the Lord had determined.
Salvation…
Jonah’s salvation from the belly of the fish came in the form of being vomited out. I am sure there are worse ways this could have ended, but I can’t imagine what it must have been like going through this process to attain salvation from the fish. Jonah was indeed brought out of this difficulty but not cleanly. It’s a great reminder that the Lord brings forgiveness and healing, but there are still consequences to our sins that we must go through. This is crucial and a point we all need to take to heart.
- Every one of us can be assured that God will freely bring grace and mercy into our repentance. God is not way off in the distance somewhere, waiting for us to make ourselves and the situation better so he can intervene. Rather, Jesus is with us in the belly of the fish. When my life is most difficult; when my life is most in tatters; when everything around me seems to be falling apart, Jesus is there with me. He is the God of the sea and the dry land. He is Lord over all things.
- Yet, there will be present consequences for my sin. My eternal state is secure by the saving work of Christ on the cross, but my immediate circumstances are impacted by my every decision. Both the obedient and the disobedient ones.
Godly Patience
Jonah is not fully there in his understanding of God’s grace, but we can see the beginnings of understanding peeking through with this prayer. What we do clearly see through Jonah’s process of experiencing God’s grace is the patience of the Lord with Jonah and with each of us.
- Jonah is flawed… Jonah is often clueless… Jonah is self-centered… Jonah is self-righteous… Jonah misunderstands the goodness of God.
- We are flawed, often clueless, self-centered, self-righteous, and regularly misunderstand the goodness of God working in our lives.
- The Lord is patient with us as he weaves the spiritual wonder of grace into the fabric of our lives. And what does grace look like in the life of Jonah and our lives? It looks like the fruit of the Spirit.
- Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control.
As we take time to reflect before we discuss together, I want you to think about the following: How has God been teaching you patience this week? How can you exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit in your life this week?