Rescue

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. So we're in Jonah, kind of like the end of 1 and into chapter 2. We're going to get through the whole chapter, but right now I want to just read a couple of verses. And this is Jonah 1, 17 and 2, verse 10. Now in between those verses is Jonah's prayer, which we're going to look at fully today and kind of take it a little step at a time. But I would call it also Jonah's un-prayer, and you'll see why. Jonah's prayer, we're going to be looking at this in Jonah chapter 2. And you can kind of follow along with any of this in the You version of the app, of the Bible. You can find the notes for this, or you can just open up to Jonah chapter 2. Now this is, it's a prayer, it's a psalm, but the question is, hmm, well, we'll get to the question, okay? And this is what Bob Dieffenbaugh says about Jonah's prayer here. He says, At first glance, it has all the appearances of piety, but after a little probing and reflection, it proves to be more of a religious sham than anything else. Ooh, that's kind of sharp, isn't it? So Jonah gives thanks to God from the belly of this great fish. And he describes his plight, and how he was near death, and how God heard his prayer, and he is saved. Well, his salvation is being vomited out, but he is still saved through that whole thing. The prayer looks good, it sounds good, it has some great points to it, and in most situations, this prayer would be wonderful. But prayer is always to be getting at the heart of the issue in our lives. Prayer is supposed to be a reflection, some self-reflection in some ways, that we are not just holding things back, or just asking for this, or keeping at a distance, or playing some game with God in any way. Prayer is to be letting God see us as we are, and being transparent before him. Like, one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 139, has this at the end. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Now, I think you're going to find out, Jonah doesn't do this. At all. And reflecting on Jonah's prayer, we're going to go through these three points. First of all, Jonah's un-prayer, and then what repentant prayer looks like, and finally, the un-Jonah's prayer. We kind of talked about that a little last week as well. Jonah's un-prayer, let's read through a portion of it. He says this, then. 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 your billows passed over me. So Jonah talks about his distress, the fact that he is thrown into the sea, that God is the one who cast him into the sea, he says here. But the Lord heard his prayer, and he answered his prayer. And he goes on. The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around my head at the root of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. What a vivid recollection of a man who is almost drowned. Right? But God rescues him from that by providing this giant fish to swallow him and keep him alive where he should have been dead. And then Jonah says, when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you and to your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. So again, Jonah recalls what has gone on in his life. His life was nearly over, but he asserts two things here. Number one, those other people regard vain idols have no love from God. And secondly, my prayer came to God in his holy temple. And because of my prayer, God saved me. And then he finally ends. But I, with the voice of Thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord. So Jonah is going to give a sacrifice of Thanksgiving. This is a prayer of thanks all the way through. And he's going to do it at God's temple. Sounds great, doesn't it? Jonah's in trouble. He calls to God. He remembers God. God hears his prayer. God shows him kindness. Jonah is rescued. And Jonah is going to thank God and give praise and thanks to God at the temple. What's missing in this prayer? Anything you notice? Jonah does do the one thing he needs to do. He doesn't repent. At all. He doesn't say, hey, I got stuck and I was thrown overboard because I was the one who ran away from you. Oh, God, forgive me for being disobedient to your call. Forgive me for being obstinate. Forgive me for hating those people. Forgive me for none of that anywhere in this prayer at all. Not at all. And he doesn't just talk about his, you know, he doesn't say, I'm sorry. He just talks about his sorry state. You know, it's terrible what I'm in. And...