QUARANTINE: 40 Days of Spiritual Health and Hope Week 4 - The Road to Revival
Powell Butte Christian Church
English - May 17, 2020 17:00 - 39 minutes - 18.4 MBChristianity Religion & Spirituality sermon church pbcc powell butte christian Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
“Lord, let me out. You hurled me in here! I’m in the midst of seaweed wrapped around my head and stale water all around me. I know You can lift me up from this stench. I forgot You for awhile – but now I remember! I know that others cling to worthless idols. I know they turn their back on the grace that could be theirs. Even in this muck,I will sing a song of Thanksgiving because I know that it’s only You Who can save me. You!”
And with those thoughts, Jonah, still in the belly of a great fish, began to change his mind and follow God’s way. You know the story. Here is Jonah in chapter 2 running back to God with a heart-cry for mercy and grace. Why was he in such desperate need of these? Because back in chapter 1, Jonah was running FROM God.
The Lord had a mission for him – and Jonah rather than obeying literally had run the other way. God wanted him to preach against the city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria - about 500 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Travel by land would take about a month.
Instead he had booked passage on a ship heading across the Mediterranean Sea in the exact opposite direction, headed to a city on the Spanish coast - the city of Tarshish.
To get Jonah’s attention, God had sent a storm that couldn’t be ignored – almost like a coronavirus that has to be dealt with. The ship was about to sink and Jonah told the sailors it’s his fault – his God wanted to deal with him and so Jonah is thrown into the sea, where a great fish that God had prepared swallowed him whole and alive.
So Jonah, now in the belly of the fish for three days, begins to pray for mercy and grace. And, after three days, in answer to his prayer, God causes the fish to vomit up the prophet onto dry ground.
It’s a fairly simple story to remember:
Chapter 1 – Jonah’s running from God
Chapter 2 – Jonah’s running back to God
Chapter 4 – Jonah’s running ahead of God
But for 40 days, in chapter 3 - the chapter I want us to look at this morning - Jonah is actually running WITH God.