Jonah: The God of Second Chances

From the Belly of the Fish

What are some bad situations you’ve been in?

Maybe it was deciding to go to Costco in Richmond on a Friday afternoon. You know what I’m talking about—bad decisions.

Maybe it was being stuck on a long-haul flight beside a crying baby. I’ve been on both sides of that one.

Maybe it was spending an hour on hold with Telus, getting transferred twenty times, only to end up speaking with another robot.

We all find ourselves in difficult situations.

But as we’ve been walking through the story of Jonah, I think Jonah tops them all.

Last week we ended in Jonah 1:17, where Jonah found himself in perhaps the worst situation imaginable:

In the belly of a fish.

If you have a worse situation than that right now, God is going to deliver you.

And we can learn a lot from what happened there.

I know the book of Jonah can be difficult for some people. They wonder whether it’s literal or symbolic, historical or metaphorical.

But if Jesus believed it and spoke about it, then I believe it.

The Bible says Jonah was in the belly of a fish, so I’m going to believe Jonah was in the belly of a fish.

In fact, even in recent years there have been reports of people being swallowed by whales and surviving. When you start studying Jonah, you inevitably start researching fish and whales. I found account after account stretching back to the 1800s of people being swallowed and later released.

But the story isn’t really about the fish.

The fish is not the point.

The point is God’s mercy.

The point is God’s grace.

The point is that God keeps showing up with opportunity after opportunity.

Last week we saw that Jonah was a prophet—a messenger of God—who wasn’t very good at following instructions. God told him to go one direction, and Jonah immediately headed the other way.

He found himself on a ship with pagan sailors. God sent a storm. Jonah was thrown overboard. God appointed a fish to swallow him.

Yet even in all of that, God was working.

We learned that every storm in your life is not necessarily punishment from God. It is often an environment where God reveals Himself more clearly.

Not every storm comes from Him.

But God will get you through it.

Today we discover something else about God:

God is the God of second chances.

Second chances.

Third chances.

Fourth chances.

Fifth chances.

And if you’re anything like me, that’s good news.

As I prepared this message, I felt a simple phrase pressing on my heart:

It’s not too late.

Maybe you’ve come to believe that you’re too far gone.

Maybe you’ve convinced yourself that you’ve drifted too far from God.

Maybe you’ve made too many mistakes.

But Jonah was sitting in the belly of a fish, and God still wasn’t finished with him.

It’s not too late for you either.

In Part One, Jonah ran away from God.

But God pursued Jonah.

God pursues people who run.

There are runners in every church.

There are runners in every neighborhood.

There are runners in every family.

The good news is that God pursues runners.

And He doesn’t pursue us merely to catch us.

He pursues us to restore us.

That is what Jonah chapter two is all about.

It is the story of God restoring Jonah.

And it is the story of God restoring us.

Maybe restoration is exactly what you need today.

Let’s read Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish:

“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…”

As Jonah prays, one thing immediately stands out.

For the first time in the story, Jonah finally does the thing he should have done from the beginning:

He prays.

That’s a good place to start.

Many of us run away from God and never stop to pray.

Jonah finally did.

He wasn’t praying because life was going well.

He was praying because he had reached the end of himself.

And many of us live that way.

We wait until life becomes desperate before we call on God.

But that’s not how we’re meant to live.

Scripture tells us:

“Rejoice always,
pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances.”

Jonah didn’t wait for his circumstances to improve before he prayed.

His circumstances were terrible.

He was still in the fish.

The storm had passed, but the darkness remained.

Yet he prayed anyway.

And maybe that’s exactly where some of us need to begin.

At rock bottom.

Because rock bottom is not the end.

It’s often where prayer begins.

God Restores From the Deep

Jonah’s prayer is full of downward language.

He says he was in distress.

He speaks of the deep.

He talks about floods surrounding him.

He says he was driven away.

He describes darkness.

He speaks of the pit.

Everything is going down.

And that is often how life feels when we are running from God.

Downward.

Heavy.

Dark.

Closed in.

Jonah had gone down to Joppa.

He had gone down into the ship.

He had gone down into the sea.

Now he was down in the belly of the fish.

But even there, God heard him.

That matters.

Because some of us believe we are too deep for God to reach.

Too far gone.

Too stuck.

Too ashamed.

Too late.

But Jonah cried out from the depths, and God heard his voice.

God can restore from the deep.

The fish was not Jonah’s home.

It was not meant to be the place where Jonah stayed.

It was God’s instrument of restoration.

It was uncomfortable.

It was dark.

It was strange.

It was not what Jonah would have chosen.

But God used it to turn Jonah around.

Sometimes God meets us in places we never wanted to be, not because He is finished with us, but because He is restoring us.

Jonah says:

“Yet You brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.”

That is the turning point.

Jonah was going down.

But God brought him up.

From Downward Language to Upward Language

A lot of us get stuck in downward language.

We rehearse how bad it is.

We describe how trapped we feel.

We speak as though nothing can change.

We begin to believe the pit is our permanent address.

But God does not want us to stay there.

He wants to move us from downward language to upward language.

Not pretending.

Not denying the pain.

Not acting as though the darkness is not real.

Jonah did not deny the darkness.

He named it.

He spoke honestly about the waters, the deep, the weeds wrapped around his head, and the bars closing over him.

But he did not stop there.

He remembered the Lord.

He prayed.

He gave thanks.

He looked again toward God’s holy temple.

That is what the Word of God does in us.

It gives us language when we are in the dark.

Jonah’s prayer echoes the Psalms.

When he says, “I called out to the Lord out of my distress,” it sounds like Psalm 18:

“In my distress I called upon the Lord.”

When he says, “All Your breakers and Your waves passed over me,” it sounds like Psalm 42:

“All Your breakers and Your waves have gone over me.”

Jonah had the Word of God inside him.

So when he was in the dark, the Word came out.

That is why it matters what we put into our hearts.

That is why it matters what we sing.

That is why it matters what we read.

That is why it matters that the Word of God is anchored deep within us.

Because when the darkness comes, we need something stronger than our own fear to speak.

We need the Word of God.

The Turn Toward Thanksgiving

Then Jonah says something powerful:

“But I, with the voice of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to You.”

But I.

That is a choice.

Jonah could not control the sea.

He could not control the fish.

He could not control the storm.

But he could turn his heart toward God.

He could choose thanksgiving.

Not because everything was fixed.

Not because he was already standing on dry land.

He was still inside the fish.

But thanksgiving began before deliverance was visible.

That is faith.

Jonah says:

“Salvation belongs to the Lord.”

That is the moment everything changes.

Jonah had run to a boat, as though the boat could save him.

He had run from the presence of God, as though distance could protect him.

But now he sees clearly.

Salvation does not belong to the boat.

It does not belong to the sailors.

It does not belong to his own plans.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

And when Jonah says that, the Lord speaks to the fish.

The fish vomits Jonah onto dry land.

God has a sense of humour.

But even more than that, God has mercy.

Jonah is alive.

Jonah is back.

Jonah has been restored from the deep.

God Restores Us for Purpose

But God does not only restore Jonah from something.

He restores Jonah for something.

Jonah chapter 3 begins with these words:

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.”

That is one of the most beautiful phrases in the whole story.

The word of the Lord came a second time.

God spoke again.

Jonah had failed.

Jonah had run.

Jonah had disobeyed.

Jonah had gone in the opposite direction.

But God spoke again.

And God did not give him a smaller assignment.

He did not say, “Jonah, since you failed the first time, I have something easier for you now.”

No.

The same God gave the same word and the same calling.

“Arise, go to Nineveh.”

In chapter one, Jonah went down.

Now God says, “Arise.”

Get up.

Go.

Move forward.

The downward story becomes an upward calling.

That is what restoration looks like.

God does not merely forgive yesterday.

He restores purpose for tomorrow.

Failure may interrupt the call of God.

Fear may distract us from the call of God.

Running may delay obedience.

But failure does not have the final say.

God does.

The Word Came Again

Maybe that is what someone needs to hear.

The word of the Lord can come again.

God can speak again.

He can call again.

He can restore again.

He can bring back meaning where you thought there was none.

He can awaken dreams you buried.

He can return you to purposes you threw away.

Many of us have things we once sensed God calling us toward, but we put them in the garbage because they were too hard, or because we failed once, or because fear got loud.

But God is not finished.

Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

This time, Jonah obeyed.

And Nineveh was an exceedingly great city.

God had a purpose for Jonah.

God had a purpose for Nineveh.

And God has a purpose for you.

Ephesians 2:10 says:

“For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.”

You have purpose because you belong to God.

Restoration is not just being forgiven.

Restoration is being brought back into the good works God prepared for you.

God Restores Through Repentance

Jonah had to turn around.

That is repentance.

Repentance is not merely feeling bad.

It is not simply saying, “I’m sorry.”

It is turning.

Jonah was going one direction, and God turned him around.

He had been running away from Nineveh.

Now he went to Nineveh.

He had been resisting God’s word.

Now he obeyed it.

That is repentance.

Maybe today you need to turn from pride toward humility.

Maybe you need to turn from your own will toward God’s will.

Maybe you need to turn from rebellion toward obedience.

Maybe you need to turn from running and return to Him.

The power to turn does not come from your own strength.

That is why Jesus came.

We cannot save ourselves.

We cannot restore ourselves.

We need someone greater.

And His name is Jesus.

Something Greater Than Jonah

Jesus Himself spoke about Jonah.

In Matthew 12, He said:

“The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it,
for they repented at the preaching of Jonah,
and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

Something greater than Jonah is here.

Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jesus was in the grave.

Jonah came out, and a city heard the message of repentance.

Jesus rose from the dead, and salvation was offered to the whole world.

Jonah points us forward.

But Jesus is greater.

Greater than Jonah.

Greater than our failure.

Greater than our running.

Greater than our darkness.

Greater than the pit.

Greater than the storm.

Greater than the fish.

Greater than our shame.

Something greater than Jonah is here.

His name is Jesus.

Stop Running

So maybe today is the day to stop running.

Maybe today is the day to turn around.

Maybe today is the day to pray again.

Maybe today is the day to say yes again.

If you feel like you have no purpose, God can restore purpose.

If you feel like you are too deep, God can restore from the deep.

If you feel like you have run too far, God can speak again.

Jonah’s story tells us that God pursues runners.

But He does not pursue us to destroy us.

He pursues us to restore us.

So turn back.

Pray from where you are.

Give thanks before you see the shore.

Say again: