Do You Pray?

While you're finding your spot in Jonah, I'll just explain a little bit of how we're preaching through these books.

So we've been going through the gospel according to John, the fourth gospel.

We've paused that now as we go into the summer months.

I'm really excited to preach through the Psalms.

So the plan is that every Sunday of the summer we'll tackle one psalm.

So next week we'll begin that with Psalm chapter 1, if you want to read that and study it this week.

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

And then we've been going to one Old Testament book about once a month.

We're halfway through Jonah after today.

And we'll resume Jonah again in the fall, you know, with the book of John again.

But we'll pause and look at Psalms.

So we're going to start our reading a couple of verses before Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

And we'll end it a couple of verses after the end of chapter 2 as well.

So turn back now to Jonah chapter 1, starting at verse 14.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

As I read from the book of Jonah, and as you follow along, remember this is God's inspired,

inerrant, infallible, clear, and sufficient word.

This is God's very own word for you, his people.

After we're done reading our sermon text for today, I'll say this is the word of the Lord,

and we'll respond, thanks be to God.

So Jonah chapter 1, starting at verse 14.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

Therefore they, this is the pagan sailors, called out to the Lord,

O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood.

For you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from raging.

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Now notice what Jonah chapter 2 is.

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

What is it?

It's his prayer.

All of chapter 2 is Jonah's prayer.

So Jonah chapter 2, verse 1.

Jonah 2:1

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish, saying,

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.

For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me.

All your waves and billows passed over me.

Then I said, I am driven away from your sight.

Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.

The waters closed in over me to take my life.

The deep surrounded me.

Weeds were wrapped around my head 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.

Oh, Lord, my God.

When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple.

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you.

While I have vowed, I will pay, salvation belongs to the Lord.

Isn't that a great prayer?

Then we're told, the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah up, out upon dry land.

We'll read the first four verses of chapter three to see what happens.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth.

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he called out,

Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

You may be seated.

Would you pray with me?

Oh Lord, teach us to hope in you.

Without hope we perish.

When we put our hope on anything less, we are disappointed.

Help us to put our hope in you alone, and hear from you through your word,

to strengthen our hope once again today for your glory.

For Christ's sake we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Let me read this quote.

This is from J.C. Ryle in the 1800s in Liverpool, England, to his congregation at the time.

Quote,

I have a question to offer you.

It is contained in three words.

Do you pray?

This question is one that none but you can answer.

Do you pray?

There is no duty in religion so neglected as prayer.

I ask whether you pray because prayer is absolutely needful to a man's salvation.

I cannot find that without prayer anybody will be saved.

No man or woman can expect to be saved who does not pray.

Do you pray?

Ryle goes on to argue that without prayer, not only can you not be saved without prayer, you cannot grow.

He writes,

Diligence in prayer is vital for growth in holiness.

There is a vast difference among true Christians.

All Christians are in God's army.

They are all fighting the same good fight,

but how much more valiantly some fight than others.

They are all doing the Lord's work,

but how much more some do than others.

They are all running the same race,

but how much faster some get on than others.

They all love the same Lord and Savior,

but how much more some love Him than others.

Ryle asks,

What accounts for such a difference among true Christians?

And his answer,

prayer.

Do you pray?

Only Christians that pray,

and keep praying through adversity,

will be saved,

and will grow.

Now, you remember in Jonah chapter 1,

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

I know it was a while back,

but do you remember where Jonah was?

He was fleeing from the Lord.

He was going to the belly or the ribs of the ship,

and he was asleep.

And Jonah was,

he was like an illustration of the state,

the spiritual state of all of Israel.

The waters are raging all around this little ship,

and there is Jonah.

He's not praying.

He's escaping,

and he's trying to escape into slumber.

He's escaping God.

He's not a man of prayer.

God's people in Israel,

they had turned to these vain idols.

Look at our sermon text for today,

chapter 2, verse 8.

Those who pay regard to vain idols,

they forsake their hope of steadfast love.

You're going to throw your prayers toward an idol.

You are going to have no hope.

Now, in chapter 2,

God teaches this man who flees God and who does not pray,

He teaches this man to pray.

That's what happens in chapter 2.

Jonah learns to pray.

Look at chapter 2, verse 2.

Jonah says,

I cried out in my affliction unto the Lord,

and He heard me.

I love how the Geneva Bible of 1599 puts it.

Out of the belly of hell,

I cried out,

and you heard my voice.

Here's my proposition for you today

from Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

Distress.

Distress drives you to see God's character more clearly.

When you see God's character more clearly,

you cry out to Him.

You pray.

Pray.

And He restores your hope.

When you're trying to remember what was this sermon about,

what was the point?

The point is,

do you pray?

In your distress,

do you see the character of God?

And by seeing His character,

your hope in praying to this God

is restored.

It puts you on your knees

to pray.

And in this passage that we read today,

I want to walk us through eight reasons

that we can pray with hope in God's character.

Reason number one,

pray with hope in God's justice.

We learned this from those pagan sailors.

The sailors,

they appeal to God in their prayer.

They appeal to God's justice.

Look at chapter 1, verse 14.

Those pagan sailors cried unto the Lord,

and they said,

We beseech Thee, O Lord,

we beseech Thee.

Let us not perish for this man's life.

So they're looking at Jonah,

and the storm is raging all around.

They say,

If this man is guilty,

well,

it would be unjust of you to punish us.

He's the guilty one.

But then they see the other side of it.

They say,

Lay not upon us innocent blood.

Now what if Jonah's innocent,

and we're going to cast him over the seas?

Don't hold us now,

you know,

guilty for killing an innocent man.

Either way,

God is just,

and we're praying to you, God,

in your justice,

do the right thing.

We don't know.

Only you know the heart of man.

So we beseech Thee,

we pray to you

to show your justice now

and not kill us

over this wicked man, Jonah.

They confess,

You have done as it pleased you.

In chapter 1, verse 15,

they took Jonah,

they grabbed him,

lifted him up,

and they cast him forth

into the sea.

Now notice the justice of God

being satisfied.

What happens in chapter 1, verse 15?

The sea ceased from her raging.

The sea ceased from her raging

as wicked Jonah's body

splashes into the ocean.

The wrath of God is satisfied.

His justice is appeased.

Then, verse 16,

the men feared the Lord exceedingly

and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord

and made vows.

These pagan sailors learned,

we can pray to this God

and we can appeal to Him

because He truly is just.

He could have wiped us out.

Instead, He was satisfied.

His justice was satisfied

by taking Jonah

and sparing us.

They prayed to Him

with hope in God's justice.

The Bible talks of God's justice

in every book.

Here's one example.

Deuteronomy 23, verse 4.

Deuteronomy 23:4

He, the same Lord and God,

He is the rock.

His work is perfect

for all His ways are just.

A God of truth

and without iniquity,

just and right is He.

When you think of God,

think of His justice.

Our distress,

like these sailors,

it drives us to see more clearly

God's true character.

And when we see God's character,

we cry out to Him.

We appeal to His character

like they appeal to His justice.

And God restores our hope to pray.

So in your distress,

cry out to the Lord

and pray knowing that He will hear you.

Remember God's character

and pray with hope in His justice.

Jeremy read for us Psalm 33,

Psalms 33:22

verse 22 of which says,

Let Your steadfast love, O Lord,

Your character,

Your otherworldly love

be upon us

even as we hope in You.

Do you pray?

Pray with hope in God's justice.

Do you pray?

Number two,

pray with hope in God's providence.

Pray with hope in God's providence.

Look at chapter 1, verse 17.

Now the Lord had prepared,

the Lord had appointed,

the Lord had provided

a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

It was God's providence

to spare Jonah using this great fish.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish

three days and three nights.

It was God's providence

to preserve Jonah in the belly of hell

for three days and three nights.

Not one day more,

not one day less.

Jonah chapter 2, verse 1.

Jonah 2:1

Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God

out of the fish's belly.

He says,

I cried out in my affliction,

in my distress,

I cried out unto the Lord,

and he heard me.

He heard me out of the belly of hell

as I cried.

You, O Lord, have heard my voice.

In distress,

Jonah saw God's providence.

Try to put yourself in Jonah's skin.

These pagan sailors lift you up,

bring you to the very edge.

The foam, the wind,

the vapor of the sea,

they throw you in.

And then you go down.

You splash.

And you think,

this is my death.

And I'm glad for it to all be over.

He was so miserable,

trying to hide from the Lord God,

the inescapable God.

And as he's dying,

suffocating,

salt,

salty water in his nostrils,

thinking this is the end for sure.

The Lord prepared.

The Lord appointed.

The Lord provided

for this great fish to swallow him.

So he goes brushing past the teeth

and the inner parts of the mouth

of this great fish.

When he thought his last

times to intake something

through his nose and mouth,

when he thought it was going to be salt water,

he finds himself now having something to breathe.

Somehow getting oxygen now

preserved inside the stomach

of this great fish.

And it's the most miserable picture

of a man we can imagine.

He's sitting in

what would feel like vomit

and decaying fish bits

and seaweed

and stomach acid.

Turning all of the hairs on his body white.

That's why he describes this

as the belly of hell.

And he thinks he's going to die.

This is the end.

But notice what he does.

From that pit,

he cries out to the Lord.

Because he sees,

I could have died in the ocean.

But God provided for me.

He's providing oxygen for me to breathe.

Think about that.

Even to cry out to God,

it takes having some air in his lungs.

There's no air in the bottom of the ocean.

Even the air for him to cry out

was provided for him by God

inside this great fish

that the Lord appointed

to preserve Jonah.

Our Orthodox catechism asks this question,

what do you understand by providence?

And the answer is this,

providence is the almighty

and ever-present power of God

by which he upholds

as with his hand,

heaven and earth and all creatures.

And so rules them

that leaf and blade,

rain and drought,

fruitful and lean years,

food and drink,

health and sickness,

prosperity and poverty.

All things, in fact,

come to us,

not by chance,

but from his fatherly hand.

By his providence,

Jonah cries out to God.

God.

God gets our attention in distress.

And God makes you,

he shakes you and says,

are you a believer or not?

What assurance do you have in your life

to claim to be a true believer?

I don't see a lot of evidence

in Jonah's life

of whether or not he was a believer

up to this point in the story.

Do you?

Do you think Jonah was a believer?

Well,

there's one thing Jonah does

is he prays.

He prays.

He cries out to the Lord.

Notice how J.C. Ryle

makes this connection.

Practice of prayer

is one of the surest marks

of a true Christian.

Just as the first sign

of the life of an infant

when born into this world

is the act of breathing,

so the first act of men and women

when they are born again

is praying.

God teaches Jonah to pray.

And if he's praying

in this time of distress,

that can be a comfort to him

that God hears him

and that God saves.

Distress drives you to see

the character of God more clearly.

Jonah would never have gotten

to see God's providence

to this extreme

if it weren't for this distress

that the Lord threw him into.

And when you see God's character,

you cry out to him

because his character,

his providence,

restores your hope

to pray.

In your distress,

do like Jonah.

No matter how bad

your situation is,

it cannot be worse than his.

You do like him

and you cry out

to the Lord

and you pray.

And you pray knowing

that he will hear you.

Not because of your merit,

but because of God's character.

And you pray with hope

in who God is.

And we can pray,

Lord,

let not your steadfast love

forsake us.

Be upon us once again,

Lord,

with your steadfast love,

even as we hope in you.

So you pray with hope

in God's providence.

Do you pray?

Do you pray?

Pray.

Number three,

pray with hope

in God's sovereignty.

Sovereignty means

that nothing happens

except through God

and by his will.

Not only does he use

secondary means

and provide for you that way,

that's his providence.

It was his will

to use those means

over you.

Look at verse three,

chapter two,

verse three.

For you

have cast me

into the deep.

Who was it

that cast Jonah

into the deep?

It was God,

the sovereign God,

the creator,

Lord of all.

In the midst of the seas

and the floods

that encompass me about,

I'm going to read this

in the King James,

all thy billows

and thy waves

passed over me.

Whose billows were they?

Thine.

Whose waves

passed over Jonah?

God's waves.

It was God's decree

for Jonah's life

that these

undulating

masses of water

would bury him.

And it was God's will

that these waves

would pile on,

pushing him

lower and lower

and lower.

That was God's decree

for Jonah.

God was teaching Jonah

a high view

of God's sovereignty.

Second London Confession

of 1689

states it this way,

what the Bible teaches,

that God

has decreed

in himself

from all eternity

by the most wise

and holy counsel

of his own will,

freely

and unchangeably

all things

whatsoever

come to pass.

All Christians

go through distress

in this life

by God's decree,

by God's sovereign will.

But only Christians

who pray,

who cry out to God

from that distress

will grow from it.

We sing this truth

from an orthodox catechism.

What is your only hope

in life and in death?

And the answer is

that I am not my own,

but I belong

body and soul

to my faithful Savior

Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid

for all my sins

with his precious blood

and has set me free

from the tyranny

of the devil.

Listen to God's sovereignty.

He watches over me

in such a way

that not a hair,

not even a white

stomach acid dyed hair

can fall from Jonah's head

without the will

of the Father in heaven.

And he cares for you

as his child.

And he puts his Holy Spirit

in you

to assure you

of eternal life.

And that Holy Spirit

makes you willing

and ready

wholeheartedly

from now on

to live for him.

Notice how it's

the sovereignty of God

that drove Jonah

to that pit of hell

and it's the sovereignty

of God

that will restore him

and make him willing

and ready

from now on

to live for God.

That's a high view

of God's sovereignty.

Our distress,

it makes us run empty.

We see we got nothing.

We turn to the sovereign God.

Our distress makes us

cry out to God

and pray with hope

in his character.

He is a God

who is sovereign.

We remember his character

and we pray with confidence

in who he is.

And we ask,

let your steadfast love,

O sovereign Lord,

be upon us

even as we hope in you.

Do you pray

to this sovereign God?

Do you pray?

Number four,

pray with hope

in God's grace.

Yes, God is just.

God is sovereign.

God is showing

his providence

to his children,

but God is a God

of grace

through it all.

Look at verse four.

Chapter two, verse four.

From the mouth of Jonah,

then I said,

I am cast out

of thy sight.

Jonah is saying,

from the belly of hell,

I could not be further

from your will.

I am a rebel.

I deserve the banishment

I got.

Yet,

yet,

I will look again

toward thy holy temple.

Jonah is learning

God's grace.

In the face of death,

the only place

I want to think of again,

Jonah says,

is your presence,

your holy temple,

the meeting point

between the holy God

and sinners on earth.

That's all I want

to think about.

I want to be at the temple

and I want to see

the high priest

on behalf of all the people,

including me,

put his hands

and put my sin

on that scapegoat.

And I want him to see

him shed the blood

of that lamb

because that ceremonial law

is how God has agreed

to have a covenant

with sinners like me.

And I want to picture

my sin being washed away

and my conscience made clean.

I want to be

at your holy temple.

I can't bear for my soul

to feel this way.

I need your grace.

I need to be back

at the place

where you promised

to show your grace to me.

Look at verse 5.

The waters compassed me about

even to my soul.

The depth closed me round about.

The weeds were wrapped

about my head.

What's going on

to Jonah physically

is perfectly describing

the state of his inner man.

He says,

it's my head.

It's my soul

that are drowning,

that are wrapped

in the weeds

of the ocean

and the stomach

of this great fish.

In verse 6,

he says,

I went down

to the bottoms,

to the roots

of the mountains.

The earth with the bars,

with her bars,

was about me forever.

Yet you brought up

my life

from corruption,

O Lord my God.

Verse 7,

When my soul fainted

within me,

I remembered the Lord

and my prayer

came unto thee,

into,

into the very presence

of your holy temple.

When a person dies,

what do we do

with their body?

We dig a hole

under the grass,

sometimes next to a tree.

We place them down there.

We pile on dirt on top.

The roots of the trees,

the roots of the grass

have their way.

Jonah says,

I'm so far below

the surface of the earth.

I'm down to the roots

of the mountains,

under the water,

the very picture

of chaos and death.

And I'm behind the bars

like a prisoner.

And I'm here forever.

He's describing

the state of his soul

and his mind.

But yet,

look at how he trusts

in God's grace.

Look at verse 7.

Even as my soul

is fainting within me,

I'm hopeless.

I remember the Lord.

I remember the grace

of the sovereign Lord.

And I can see

so much grace in God

that I could not

describe my helplessness

and my hopelessness

in stronger terms.

Yet, even from that state,

my prayer goes all the way

inside the holy temple

of God.

And God hears me.

That's a beautiful description

of God's grace.

From the Second London Confession

of 1689 again.

God, before the foundation

of the world was laid

according to his eternal

and immutable purpose

and the secret counsel

of his good pleasure,

of his will,

he has chosen in Christ

a people.

He chose Jonah,

the most miserable,

pathetic, ugly person

on the face of the earth.

That's of grace.

Jonah gets zero credit

for any grace

he's going to receive.

It's worse than that.

He has demerited.

He's in the negative.

And God chose

and predestined

and purchased

and brought

into everlasting glory

out of God's free grace

and love

without any other thing

in the creature

as a condition

or cause

that would move God

to show that kind of grace.

God is sovereign

and God is gracious.

And his grace to you

is a sovereign grace.

We sang that

when darkness veils

his lovely face.

See, that's always

who God is.

He's always lovely.

He's always gracious.

But the darkness

of my distress

sometimes veils that

from my eyes.

And when darkness

veils his lovely face,

I rest

on his

unchanging

grace

in every

high

and stormy

gale

my anchor

holds

within the veil.

It's the distress

that drives us

to cry out

to this

gracious

God.

We pray

knowing

that he is

a God of grace.

Your prayer

goes all the way

inside

of his holy

temple.

It's his character

that makes him

hear your prayer

when you cry out

to him.

And we can pray

let your

steadfast

gracious

love, O Lord,

be upon us

even as we

hope in you.

Do you pray

to this

gracious

God?

Do you pray?

Number five,

pray with hope

in God's

salvation.

Not only is

he gracious

and capable

of showing

grace,

he is the

God who

saves.

Salvation

is of the

Lord.

Pray with hope

in God's

salvation.

Look at

verse 8,

chapter 2,

verse 8.

They that

observe

lying vanities

forsake their

own mercy.

They forsake

the steadfast

love of God

who turned

to idols.

That's the

nation of

Israel.

They're missing

out on the

loving kindness

of God.

Jonah is

getting it

from the

pit of

hell.

And Israel,

the nation,

is missing

out.

Verse 9,

he says,

I will

sacrifice

unto you

with the

voice of

thanksgiving.

What God

desires is

the heart

and the

mind of

Jonah,

to be

filled with

gratitude

and to

cry out

with prayers

of thanksgiving.

And he

says,

I will pay

what I have

vowed.

Out of my

gratitude,

I will

obey.

And he

declares,

salvation

is of the

Lord.

Jonah,

he knew,

he's behind

the bars

of death

forever.

But salvation

is of the

Lord.

If he's to

be saved,

it will be

from God.

He cannot

save himself.

You won't

get to

experience

God's

salvation

until God

gets you

to that

point.

I cannot

save myself.

Salvation

is of the

Lord alone.

Verse 10,

God not

only promises

salvation,

he makes

it happen

in history.

He actually

saves,

he actually

redeems.

In verse

10,

the Lord

spoke to

the fish

and the

fish vomited

out Jonah

upon dry

land.

Jonah was

cast from

the ship

into the

sea to

satisfy God's

justice.

Jonah was

buried for

three days

inside the

belly of

hell.

And now

God

saves.

God

saves.

This

same

man

now

stands

on the

beach

breathing

fresh air,

the sand

coming up

between his

toes,

a living

ugly

man,

stinky.

He's alive

though.

Jonah was

saved.

God

actually saved

him in

history.

This is no

mythology.

This is no

story or

tale.

Our Lord

Jesus himself,

listen to how

he describes

this in

Matthew

Matthew 12:40

chapter 12

verse 40.

Jesus said,

John Gill

commented,

Jonah's

deliverance

was a

shadow of

our Lord's

resurrection

from the

dead.

What God

did to

Jonah,

it was a

pledge,

a promise,

a guarantee.

It was a

hope-building

picture for

you and for

me.

Of our

resurrection,

with Christ

one day.

If God

can do

this,

which he

did,

of course,

God can

raise the

dead.

That's why

we can

pray with

hope in

the God

who actually

saves.

And we

can call to

one another

to trust in

this God

of salvation.

Salvation

belongs to

him.

We sing,

come,

oh sinner,

come and

mourn.

For he,

Jesus Christ,

calls your

sin his

own.

Do you

feel the

weight of

justice

served?

He,

Jesus Christ,

suffered the

wrath that

you deserved.

Jonah was

cast into

the ocean

and the

wrath of

God was

satisfied,

but that

was for

Jonah's

own sin.

Jesus Christ

was cast

into the

belly of

hell and

he was

there for

three days

and three

nights,

yet he

was sinless.

Why did

he do

that?

He did

that to

atone for

your sin

because God

is just

and God

is a God

of salvation

and this

is God

showing you

I came

to save

you.

You can

sing now,

for my life

Jesus bled

and died.

For my life

justice has

been satisfied

and we have

the hope

now we

will be

raised with

him to

endless life.

Why?

Because it

is the

Lord

himself

from

beginning

to

end

who

holds

you

fast

and

he

will

hold

you

fast

through

your

distress.

He will

use that

distress

to break

you down

to make

you turn

to him

alone

again

for

salvation

so you

will cry

out to

him

trusting

in God's

character

with hope

that he

is the

God

who

saves

and you

will

pray

let

your

steadfast

love

oh

Lord

once again

be upon

me

even as

I put

my

hope

in

you

the

God

of

salvation

do

you

pray

to

the

God

of

salvation

do

you

pray

number

six

pray

with

hope

in

God's

word

pray

with

hope

in

God's

word

look

at

Jonah

Jonah 3:1

chapter

3

verse

1

and

the

word

of

the

Lord

came

to

Jonah

the

second

time

the

word

of

the

Lord

came

to

Jonah

this

time

around

when

he

hears

the

word

of

the

Lord

look

what

he

does

in

verse

2

the

word

of

the

Lord

says

arise

Jonah

go to

Nineveh

that

great

city

and

preach

unto

it

preach

what

I

will

bid

thee

to

preach

so

there's

Jonah

standing

at

the

beach

and

there's

the

Mediterranean

sea

I

believe

the

great

fish

vomited

him

up

right

there

on

the

beach

somewhere

the

hypothesis

that

that

great

fish

would

have

taken

him

all

the

way

to

Nineveh

it

would

have

taken

months

unless

the

Lord

made

it

go

extra

fast

but

logically

it

was

just

right

there

three

days

three

nights

and

now

he's

standing

on

the

sand

and

the

word

of

the

Lord

comes

as

if

echoing

across

the

ocean

waters

notice

how

Psalm

29

3

says

the

voice

of

the

Lord

is

upon

the

waters

the

God

of

glory

thunders

the

Lord

is

upon

many

waters

the

voice

of

the

Lord

is

powerful

the

voice

of

the

Lord

is

full

of

majesty

and

the

Lord

sits

upon

the

flood

yea

the

Lord

sits

as

king

forever

to

the

landlocked

Israelites

the

ocean

the

waters

was

a

picture

of

death

and

fear

and

chaos

it's

the

waters

of

judgment

yet

the

Lord

sits

enthroned

over

the

waters

and

the

word

of

the

Lord

comes

to

Jonah

even

if

it

came

as

a

whisper

he's

picturing

death

itself

in

these

oceans

and

he

looks

back

across

now

on

the

land

and

he

sees

all

of

Israel

and

to

get

to

Nineveh

where

the

word

of

the

Lord

is

telling

him

to

go

he

has

to

travel

all

the

way

across

this

land

of

Israel

I

wonder

if

this

is

even

how

he's

composing

this

beautiful

poem

and

prayer

if

that's

where

we

get

you

know

the

seeds

of

Jonah

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

chapter

2

is

him

marching

from

the

coast

all

the

way

across

Israel

to

Nineveh

pray

with

hope

in

God's

word

we

hope

in

God's

promises

that

he

gives

us

in

his

word

so

when

you

pray

to

the

Lord

you're

praying

not

your

own

thoughts

or

your

own

ideas

you're

taking

what

God's

word

himself

has

given

you

his

promises

flow

to

you

and

when

you

take

his

word

and

you're

taking

his

word

to

hold

on

to

his

promises

it's

like

drinking

from

his

crystal

stream

the

promises

of

God

and

in

your

distress

you

cry

out

to

the

Lord

you

cry

out

to

the

God

who

has

not

been

silent

or

distant

he's

brought

himself

near

by

his

word

and

you

don't

need

to

wonder

who

God

is

you

have

his

word

who

reveals

God

to

you

you

pray

that

God

will

help

us

to

grasp

the

heights

from

his

word

of

his

plans

for

us

like

we

sing

he

teaches

us

truths

unchanged

from

the

dawn

of

time

that

will

echo

down

through

eternity

and

it's

through

his

word

that

we

know

of

the

grace

in

which

we

stand

on

his

promises

so

you

pray

with

hope

in

God

and

your

hope

is

anchored

on

his

word

what

he

has

revealed

number

seven

you

pray

with

hope

in

God's

power

you

pray

with

hope

you

put

your

hope

you

get

your

hopes

up

you

set

his

powerful

he

is

powerful

to

either

judge

and

overthrow

a

great

empire

like

Assyria

or

God

is

powerful

that

his

word

calling

them

to

repent

will

humble

them

and

break

them

down

either

way

you

trust

the

power

of

God

so

chapter

3

verse

3

Jonah

arose

and

went

into

Nineveh

according

to the

word

of the

Lord

now

Nineveh

was

an

exceedingly

great

city

if

you

start

walking

on

one

side

notice

Jonah

travels

one

day's

worth

into

it

so

he's

getting

right

to

the

hub

right

to

the

heart

of

Nineveh

and

when

he

gets

into

the

city

he

enters

into

it

he

opens

up

his

mouth

and

cries

out

the

word

that

God

gave

him

in

verse

4

he

says

yet

forty

days

and

Nineveh

shall