Jonah: Vomitaceousness

As he was languishing in the belly of a great fish, Jonah cried out to God for deliverance. And toward the end of his prayer, he promised to keep the vow he had made to God: “What I have vowed I will pay.”
It’s funny what people do when they get themselves into trouble. They rebel against God, get themselves into a helpless and hopeless situation, and then cry out, “God, if You get me out of this mess, then I’ll…” But rarely do we see anyone make good on their promises.
Why is that? The obvious reason is that there really is no change of heart. People don’t really want to change. They just don’t want to face the negative consequences of their actions.
Jonah was like that. He had an unchanged heart. He still did not truly want to do what God had told him to do. As we will see, probably next week, he did go to Nineveh and prophesy to that city. However, his reaction to the revival they experienced demonstrates that his heart was still rebellious toward God. Therefore, as PJ told us, Jonah’s prayer was insincere.
Now, let me ask you a question. Did God know that Jonah was insincere when he prayed the prayer we find in chapter 2? Yes, of course He did. God is omniscient. He sees all things. He knows all things. He not only sees everything we do. He also knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
So God knew Jonah was insincere. And yet, He delivered him from his desperate, life-threatening situation.
Why would God respond to such an insincere prayer? When we cry out to God, making outlandish promises we will never keep, why does God answer our prayers and deliver us anyway? Why didn’t God just let Jonah die inside the belly of that fish?
Because that’s the kind of God He is. The one thing we should see in this story, more than anything else, is the incredible graciousness of God. We see Him delivering Jonah, despite the prophet’s persistent rebellion and hardheartedness.
Within Christian circles, we talk about grace all the time. But do we really know what grace is? Can we clearly define it, and do we fully comprehend it? Defining it is rather easy. Comprehending it is quite another matter.
Grace is defined as God’s unmerited favor. It is His favorable disposition toward us, that we do not deserve. So many people speak of grace as being undeserved. I would not quibble with this. However, I would point out that this definition falls short of reality. God’s grace is not just undeserved. It is ill-deserved. But what’s the difference?
If you are a sports fan like me, and if you’ve spent any time surfing the sports networks, looking for something interesting to watch, you’ve probably noticed that they often feature something like the World Poker Tour. It’s a bunch of guys on tv, sitting around, playing poker, hoping to win a lot of money. Now, every hand has a winner. And at the end of it all, there is a tournament winner. But did that individual necessarily deserve to win? No. He just got lucky. Just the right cards came up for him, and he won. But he did not particularly do anything to deserve winning anymore than somebody else. His winnings are, for our purposes, undeserved.
However, let’s suppose that we later find out that the champion was hiding the Ace of Spades in his shirt sleeve. Suppose he was strategically using that card to win important hands throughout the tournament. Because nobody caught him at the time, he won the tournament. But he was cheating. Now, we would have to say that his winnings were ill-deserved. Not only did he not deserve to win, but rather, he actually deserved to lose.
When we consider the grace of God, this is what we are talking about. It’s not that we were lucky enough to be the recipients of God’s grace. We actually deserved not to receive it at all. We can’t just say that we didn’t deserve to have Jesus die on the cross for our sins. Rather, we actually deserved to have Him not die on the cross. We deserved to have God pour out His wrath upon us and condemn us to hell. But God is so gracious that He gives us what we don’t deserve, and in His mercy, doesn’t give us what we do deserve.
That being said, allow me to give you a word of advice. The next time you get into a scrape; the next time you find yourself in a desperate situation you can’t get yourself out of; do not try bargaining with God. Do not say, “God, if You help me, then I will…” Remember that Ecclesiastes 5:5 says, “It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”
Instead, cry out to Him on the basis of His mercy and grace. Trust His love. Trust His grace. Trust that He will help you, simply because that’s the kind of God He is.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. When have I made promises to God, and then failed to keep them? What were the consequences? How did I feel and what did I do about it?


2. When I get myself into trouble and find myself crying out to God for help, am I truly sorry for my wrongs? Am I repentant? Or do I just want Him to get me out of a messy situation?



3. On what basis do I ask God for help when I need it? Do I try to bargain with Him? Do I think I have to cajole or coerce Him into helping me? What’s wrong with this? How might it actually be an insult to God?