Faith | Hope | Love

So there he is; squeezed into the stomach of a giant fish that God had prepared for him. He had been running from God, but all along, God was running after him. He sent the great fish (representing grace) to save him from the storm (representing God’s wrath.)

This is phase #2 of the story. Repentance is the theme of the chapter as Jonah moves from religion and rebellion to repentance.

Now, repentance is the first step of a bigger process called spiritual breakthrough. It’s best described as moving to a new level of relationship with God. You might have experienced this very thing at summer camp as a teen, a holiday service, or a spiritual retreat. Maybe you were convicted. You knew what you needed to stop doing and what you needed to begin doing instead. Jonah had that moment here.

But it wasn’t a walk in the park. This breakthrough came as a result of a seriously painful, even life-threatening, experience that brought about repentance. Don’t be fooled by the cartoon depictions of this moment. Jonah wasn’t walking around inside a stomach. He wasn’t playing on the ribs like a xylophone or playing with the others fishies in there. He was more likely squeezed inside this disgusting, wretched smelling digestive system. Literally being burned by the stomach acids as it tried to digest him. He was raw, he was slimy, he was stinking horribly, thirsty, hungry, lonely, awkward, and broken hearted.

There is a week in the Navy Seal training known as, “Hell Week.” On average, only 25% make it through this part of training. Imagine, on the first night, you are awakened from your sleep with guns firing inside your bunker, and concussion grenades exploding to make your head spin. All that can be made out in the yelling is orders to crawl on your belly across pavement and sand into the ice-cold sea. Thus begins Hell Week, and from that moment on you’re given only minutes of sleep at a time for the rest of the week.

You are ordered constantly to perform hundreds of pushups, sit ups, and pull ups. You are made to perform torturous water training for hours at a time. Swimming. Army crawling. And more swimming. On the first day of Hell Week the sergeants make you take all of your clothes from your suitcase, soak them in the ocean and drag them through the sand and neatly put them back in your suitcase, so your skin is rubbed raw by the sand and water. You’ll have blisters, scabs, and open wounds the entire week and just when it couldn’t get any worse, you’re thrown into the salty ocean for the thousandth time.

There is a constant yelling, whistling, shoving, insulting, and testing to build your commitment. Soldiers are made to carry boats and huge logs and even each other with literally no sleep in days. Several men have actually died during this training week.

But what makes all of this unbearable is the constant temptation of donuts, coffee, and blankets offered to you if you just quit. Basically, Navy Seal training is created to make the strongest men cry. They want to weed out the weak links. But in reality, what they’re doing is strengthening their soldiers. Because the drill sergeants know that if these soldiers are going to be effective in combat, they have to be strengthened. They must be brought to a point of breaking, so they can be built back up.

Sometimes God allows us to go through extreme circumstances to break us. And we’re given a choice. Choice #1. Quit on God. Which usually involves getting angry, getting depressed, getting deeper into sin, and therefore staying broken. Or choice #2. Have an experience of repentance where God is allowed to build you back up the way He wants. See, God was preparing Jonah in the belly of the fish. He wanted to break Jonah, not so that he would quit and give up, but so he would repent and have spiritual breakthrough.

Sometimes God puts us through terrible circumstances to bring about spiritual breakthrough, starting with repentance.

There were some lessons that Jonah learned in the belly of the whale that radically changed his life and moved him to a new level of spirituality. In my next few posts I’m going to investigate the lessons learned in the digestive system of a fish.

RUN

Pt. 5 The Cure for Running

           

Jonah 1:15-17 “So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

¹⁷And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

At first, if you’re like me, your thought is of the terrible consequences. “God punishes those who run from Him!” After all, He created a storm and a giant, awful fish to eat Jonah. But here is the amazing truth, and you have to get this.

The storm wasn’t just Jonah’s punishment, it was really Jonah’s salvation. Hear me out. The storm was raging and Jonah accepted the fact that this was God’s wrath being sent to him. So he decided that there was no more running. He stopped running, he turned and faced God and the storm, and he dove into the waves of his consequences. But just below the storm (the wrath of God) lay a fish prepared by God (salvation). It was when Jonah had no other choice that he plunged himself, by faith, into the wrath of God fully expecting death, that he actually experienced the Lord’s salvation.

Now here’s the deal, God hasn’t really changed. The way He dealt with Jonah is how He is still dealing with us. I mean not with a big fish, of course, but the same principles. We run from God, and His wrath is sent towards us. But instead of us receiving the wrath when we stop running, we receive grace and forgiveness. Isn’t that the story of the cross? God’s wrath is poured out on the world. But Jesus steps in and takes the wrath upon Himself, so all that’s left for us is salvation. In the end, what we believe to be an ocean of God’s wrath turns out to be an ocean of forgiveness and acceptance.

Jesus taking God’s wrath was the most extreme act of love the world has ever seen. It has provided us an escape. But the escape is only through Jesus; by putting our trust in Him and what He did for us. We dive into Jesus, who took the wrath of God, and we receive salvation. And not just salvation from God’s wrath, but salvation from our own rebellion as well. The cure for your running always has been and always will be Jesus’ love. So stop running. When you turn and face the consequences of your sin, you will escape the punishment. You will embrace His love and you will live.

About two years ago I went to the funeral of a man I don’t know. The grandpa of two sisters in our student ministry was honored and remembered at this funeral. As I sat in the service, they had several family members and friends stand up to talk about Robert. It was made apparent from the very beginning that Robert was a good man. He loved God, he loved his family, and he loved his friends. As I looked around the auditorium I was impressed to see how many people came to remember Robert. He had lived a life that was impactful. He served in the church, he served in the city, he served in his family, and his life influenced many people, and they had all come to the funeral to honor his memory.

But as the service went on, the Pastor said something that struck me. He said, “We’re not here to make Robert out to look like he was perfect, because he had his flaws.” These girls’ Papaw had times in his own life when he ran from God. But here’s the thing that made him such a good man. In those times that he ran from God, it wasn’t long before he would stop, turn to face Jesus, and make the courageous decision to dive into the ocean of God’s wrath only to find it to be an ocean of His love.

I know you’re not perfect. But Jesus’s grace says you don’t need to be. His grace simply says, “Stop running. I lived perfectly FOR you. I took the wrath FOR you.” So let me ask you a question; When your time has come, and the funeral is yours, will people remember you as a good man or woman who loved God and loved people? I know you’ve already sinned, you’ve already messed up, and maybe your reputation right now is pretty lousy. But listen; that can change. You can be remembered as a man or woman who glorified Jesus if you stop running from God, face the consequences, and live in grace. If you want that, your only hope is in Jesus Christ.