Today’s encouraging word is from the book of Jonah, most of you are acquainted, I think with the story of Jonah. Of course, the story of Jonah is one of the most contested places that people want to argue about, they say things like, you know, well, a whale couldn’t possibly swallow a person and, I would say first off, there are certain types of whales that could but regardless of this fact, I don’t really care.

The Bible says that God prepared this whale specifically to do business with Jonah. if God decided just to miraculously make it so that, that one whale, one time ever could swallow a man. That’s fine. What’s the problem? he’s God!  As most of you know, Jonah was a prophet and he was a real man. He was a real prophet that we find reference to in Second Kings chapter 14 and verse 25, where he is mentioned as a prophet of God.

2 Kings 14:25

25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.

God came to Jonah and told him that he was supposed to go preach against Nineveh, he wasn’t even supposed to give him any good news. He was just supposed to preach against them and, and tell them that, within 40 days they’re done. God was going to wipe them out and that was it. But Jonah knew God and Jonah knew that God was merciful and gracious and that if they would dare to repent after getting this bad news, that this despicable God of his would forgive him and he would stay his execution.

So Jonah decided he didn’t want to go. And so, the Bible says that Jonah went down and found a ship going to Tarshish, and he paid the fare. Notice that the Bible keeps saying that he went down, down, down, down; it will always cost you when you go against God and when you try to run from God, it’s impossible. You can’t run away from God. You’re going to get caught every time. Maybe you’re going to get caught because of something silly or stupid that you did and maybe you’re just going to get caught because the eyes of the Lord are every place, beholding the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3). But you’re never going to get away with it, with God. And most of the time, to be honest with you, you’re not going to get away with it with men either. You’re not going to get away with it. But what I really want to key on here is to pick up here in chapter one in verse 17 and move on into chapter two a little bit here.

Jonah tries to run away from God. Obviously, it didn’t work out. He gets on the ship. The ship gets out there in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea out there and God sends a great storm and, it was bad enough that the Mariners, the professional sailors, were scared. I mean, that’s a bad storm! I mean it wouldn’t take too bad of a storm for me to get a little nervous out in the middle of the ocean. Ok. Just to be honest about it, I’ve been out on a lake on a little ski boat in a bad storm and that was bad enough for me. I’ve never even been on the ocean. I mean, I’ve been to the ocean, but I’ve never actually been out in the Ocean, I mean, I’ve gone out about as far as waist deep. That’s about as far as I’ve ever been out in the ocean because… I’ve seen Jaws. 

But this storm was so bad that these Mariners were scared to death. And they’re casting lots and they’re doing all this stuff to try to figure out what in the world is going on, which one of the gods is mad at us and all this kind of stuff. And they finally narrowed it down to Jonah and Jonah says, ok, yeah, it’s my fault. He owns up to it, right? He owns up to it, and you want to give Jonah some props for owning up to it and everything else. And then he says, hey, you guys ought to just like throw me overboard, right? In verse 12: he said unto them, take me up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you for I know that for my sake, this great Tempest is upon you.  Notice a couple of things when you, run from God, when you don’t do, right. When you’re not doing what you’ve been called to do, it’s not just going to cost you, it’s going to cost other people that are around you. But, notice that Jonah didn’t all of a sudden just get this big, bravery button or anything and decide Ok, well, it was my fault here. Watch out, guys. I’m going to do a cannonball off the stern, right? He said, hey, well, I mean, if you guys want to, you guys can throw me overboard, but I am not jumping. So, they go ahead, they go ahead, and they throw him overboard.

Now look at verse 17 here. Now, the Lord had prepared a great fish, now over Matthew chapter 12 and verse 40 the Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of heaven and earth and everything that you have ever seen. The physical manifestation of the word of God and, the one who penned these words in the first place, said that it was a whale. So you don’t need to be worried about that. It was a whale. I don’t care what your third-grade teacher has to say about it. It was a whale. The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

One of the reasons that the book of Jonah is contested so much with folks is because this is the sign that Jesus said that he was going to give over there in Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew 12:40

40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus was crucified, died, was buried for three days and three nights, and rose again from the dead. So if Jonah was going to be a sign and a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. That means, Jonah died when he was in this whale’s belly and then the Lord resurrected him. That’s what happened. And that’s what we’re dealing with here. So, the Lord prepared the great fish to swallow him up. He after he was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

Jonah 2:1

1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,

Verse one chapter two says, then after Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. After that, Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly. And here’s the encouraging word. The encouraging word is about what do you do and how should you pray when you get in trouble with God.

This is going to show you what you ought to do when you get in trouble with God. Look back to The Book of Revelation chapter two really quick.

This is where you will find the method if you will, the steps, if you will, of what you ought to do when you’re in trouble with God. And then back over here, Jonah chapter two is going to show you how that played out.

Revelation 2:1–2

1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

Revelation 2:3

3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

Revelation 2:4

4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Revelation 2:5

5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

All right. Look back to Jonah now. I’m just going to read through this. I’m going to show you how this played out with Jonah. The Lord said in Revelation, that you need to remember, you need to repent, and you need to return. That’s what you do when you find out that you’re on the wrong side and you’re in trouble with God. That’s what Jonah did.

Jonah 2:2

2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

The Lord will hear you no matter where you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how, how deep you’ve gotten into it, the Lord will hear you,

Jonah 2:3–4

3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

Remember: I’ll look again; Look again to the Lord when you find yourself in that trouble when you find yourself in the middle of having to pay the price. Remember the Lord, that’s what Jonah did.

Jonah 2:5–8

5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

When you find that you’re in trouble with God. It’s not all over, you don’t cash in your chips and you’re not done. You don’t pack your toys up and go home. There’s nowhere to go.

Remember how good and merciful the Lord is and repent; whatever it is. Just get it right, and return to the Lord.

Jonah 2:9–10

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

You remember you repent and return to the Lord. If you find yourself in trouble with God, that’s it. That’s how you fix it. Now, it’s not all going to be good and, it’s not that you won’t be any worse for the wear or whatever. You’re still going to have to… look, If you sow corruption, you will reap corruption.  The Bible said, that the fish vomited him out, The whale didn’t beach himself and just open up his mouth and let Jonah walk out. Jonah was vomited out.

If you’ve ever been fishing, you know, you can’t even go fishing without smelling like fish, just imagine what it was like if you were in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights, all them acids and everything else and God knows what all else that it had eaten and all that and then, he’s vomited out and then it doesn’t say that Jonah went to the YMCA and took a shower, right? No, He walked into town, to start preaching. The effects may still be around but the Lord can still use you.

So, if you have found that you have gotten yourself in trouble with the Lord, just follow the pattern that we are given in Revelation chapter two, and the pattern that we see that Jonah followed:

• Remember
• Repent and
• Return to the Lord

Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and helped you develop a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.