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Life from Death
Man overboard! In order to save the ship and its sailors, Jonah has been cast into the raging sea. As far as the sailors are concerned, Jonah has died, the sea is miraculously calm, and the unbelievable ordeal is over. If this were to be the end, Jonah would be remembered as the prophet who refused to obey God and paid the price for it.
However, in God’s plan, this is not the end of the story. At the point of death, when things could not possibly get any worse, God saves Jonah’s life: a great fish, likely a whale, swallows Jonah and keeps him from drowning. Jonah might be finished with God, but God is not yet finished with Jonah.
From the belly of a fish in the depths of the sea, Jonah prays. His prayer is not a request to be saved from the fish; instead, he prays with thanksgiving for being saved by the fish from drowning in the sea. As God rescues Jonah from certain death, Jonah realizes that he is a terrible captain of his own ship. His physical life is spared, and for the moment at least, Jonah dies to his self-righteous, self-centered, racist, idolatrous self. This counterintuitive truth taught throughout the Bible is crystal clear in Jonah’s story: true life comes by dying to self.
For us as well—painful, rock-bottom experiences are often the places that God uses to help us come face-to-face with our destructive habits and our sinful patterns that we need to let go of and overcome. It is painful but gainful as we repent of the old life and embrace more of the new life that God has in store for us.
We see this in Jonah as this completely undeserved salvation softens his hard heart and gives way to gratitude and worship. The runaway has surrendered; he has given up on idols (verse 8) in favor of God’s grace. Indeed, “salvation belongs to the LORD!” (verse 9). God is the only Sovereign Source of salvation, and though we will see Jonah continue to struggle with this great truth, he affirms it here.
God’s dramatic intervention in saving Jonah gives hope–not only for those who seek God but also for those, who like Jonah, have determined to shut him out.
About this Plan
It's often easy for us to beat up on Jonah for his self-centered, foolish rebellion. But as we'll discover, there's a bit of Jonah in all of us. Overcome by self-centeredness and personal prejudices, we too sometimes resist God's call. Thankfully, when we act like Jonah, God acts like God—lovingly pursuing us with his unrelenting grace. It's a wild ride, but one you don't want to miss!
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