THE END OF MYSELF

Hello to the person reading this. I’m back with blog number three on the book of Jonah. I hope that wherever you are, you are well. So we’re still on the journey of examining how the Prophet Jonah’s life is a beautiful commentary on how we live our own lives. In the last blog we looked at the second half of chapter one and looked at the ways in which our stubborn decisions can cause us to become wrecking balls in the lives of others. Today I’m going to take a look at chapter two. You’re gonna have to indulge me today, I’m planning on taking us back to high school English class with a bit of poetry analysis.

Last week we left the story at the point that Jonah gets swallowed by a fish. If this was a one chapter story that would be a tragic ending and Jonah would be dead. Thankfully it’s not that kind of story. Instead what we get is this picture of how God can even use instruments of death as instruments of life. So we get to chapter two and the author kicks us off in Jonah 2:1 by saying; “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.” This is such a bizarre image! Whether you think this is historically accurate or you think this is imagery (I lean towards the latter.) This is a key component of biblical interpretation. What is the author trying to do? Why is he giving us a story of a guy praying inside a fish? It’s important that we allow the Bible to tell us the story that it’s trying to tell. Today with this prayer that takes the form of poetry let’s do that. As we go through the lines in this poem use Jonah’s words as a lens and then see where your experiences fit, if they do fit.

Okay, in v2-4 Jonah begins his prayer. He said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ It’s such a huge turn around in Jonah’s life. He begins this story by fleeing from God, he runs as far as he can get. He then blows up the lives of sailors and he ends up overboard and now he’s in the belly of a fish composing poetry. The words of the poem force you to really think about what’s behind this turn around. They’re so stark. “From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.” That’s an interesting perspective. Jonah is at rock-bottom. He’s probably even managed to reach below rock-bottom. Yet he’s convinced that God is listening. For us it’s the opposite, when life hits the fan we think that God has abandoned us. Jonah gives us a different picture. When life gets terrible and you’re in the belly of the beast that’s when you meet God. When Jonah’s plan was working and the wind was in his hair and he was the captain of his own ship and he was on his way to Tarshish Jonah couldn’t see God because he didn’t need to. But when he ended up tossed overboard and in the belly of the beast he then became aware of the ever-present God. More often than we like to admit the same is true for us. Jonah then says something so interesting “You hurled me into the depths”. We know from the story that the sailors threw him overboard and we know that Jonah is in a self-created mess. Yet Jonah says God hurled him into the sea. The worst event in Jonah’s life made him see that his life doesn’t belong to him. The worst events in our lives usually have that effect on us. We are forced to acknowledge that at any moment we could lose our lives because our lives aren’t ours to begin with. Jonah isn’t blaming God for his mess here, he’s acknowledging the power that God has and that power is present always. He then finishes this part by saying “Yet I will look again to your holy temple.” And he’s talking about himself here. He’s realising that he can’t live a life separate from God, because he wasn’t created separate from God. He has to look again to the sacred place that is his connection with God and that is where life is for him. Maybe, just maybe that is where life is for you today.

Jonah continues with his poem and in v5-6 Jonah says “The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit.” Jonah knows that he should be dead. He’s in the pit and it should be the end. But God, his God, brings his life out of the pit. It’s this beautiful picture of hope. Jonah knows he’s where he is because of his own decisions. But that doesn’t mean he’s beyond the redemption of God. That’s huge for us. We struggle when we end up in the belly of the beast because of the course we chose to chart. But even then God will lift us up and out of the pit. There is no sin we can commit, no mistake that we can make that can put us beyond the redemptive reach of the God that we serve.

As Jonah comes to the end of his poem he says in v7-9; “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’ ” “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you Lord…” These words stick out like a sore thumb. Because Jonah is still in the fish when he says that! Is he insane? Maybe the oxygen was running low at this point. He’s been swallowed up by a fish and his response is gratitude! What this gives us is this paradoxical picture of God’s mercy. Jonah hasn’t been spared the consequences of his actions. He’s been tossed overboard, but now he remembers the Lord and the Lord is life. Jonah realised that his God wasn’t some kill-joy who hates him. He’s the God who wants him to participate in life. But God had to bring Jonah to the end of himself to see it. This is where it gets tricky for us. Because God might allow us to be tossed overboard, he might deal with us in ways that bring us to the end of ourselves and we might hate him for it. But the paradox of God’s mercy is it might be the best thing that’s ever happened to us. Jonah then makes this key realisation “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.” It’s weird; he’s in a fish so why’s he talking about idols. This takes you back to the beginning of the story. Jonah began this story by chasing his own vision of life. That decision led to him running from God. His autonomy became his idol. And so it goes with us. We are desperate to be in control and to make our own decisions and to write our own stories. But sometimes that leads us away from life and away from the love that God has for us. Does that mean your life and your story don’t matter? Of course not, but maybe it does mean that our lives can still matter even if we aren’t in control. Maybe it just matters in a way that we may not be able to see and maybe trusting God means being okay with that. Jonah ends his poem by promising to make good on his vow. After that the fish spits him out onto dry land.

What a significant moment in the story this is. Maybe today you are in the belly of the beast and you are angry and you are sad. For whatever reason this is the nature of how God operates, God is a God you can look to always. You may not be spared the belly of the beast but God can use that experience to do profound work in your life that he maybe can’t do another way. Maybe accepting that is the beginning of what it means for you to thrive in life and in faith.