JONAH 2:4-6 - EYES COVERED WITH SEAWEED, JONAH SEES HOPE

JONAH 2:4-6

EYES COVERED WITH SEAWEED,

JONAH SEES HOPE

Jonah 2:4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

Susan: Jonah, who had try to flee from God’s presence, had been banished from that presence temporarily and almost extinguished by the ravaging violence of the sea.

Susie: Once again, Jonah acknowledged that it was not the sailors who had sentenced him to what he thought would become a watery grave. Rather, God had orchestrated his being cast down nearly to oblivion as judgment for his sin of rebellion.

Susan: Jonah was confident that he would once again go to the temple in Jerusalem and experience the awesome wonderment of the manifest presence of the Lord.

Susie: He knew his prayer was being answered by the all-powerful God who was able to deliver him out of the fish when He saw fit to do so.

Jonah 2:5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

Susie: Jonah gave a graphic description of his descent into the depths of the sea—the water engulfing him, the slimy sea weed choking him, the pressure closing in to his inmost being.

Susan: He was entangled in seaweed even up to his face, perhaps immobilizing him, preventing his futile attempts to swim to the surface.

Jonah 2:6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

Susan: Jonah was caught up in what my former pastor, LaDonna Osborn Nickerson, described as the “current of divine destiny.” Jonah felt he was being buried alive and the bars of death were closing him off forever. God had to bring him to the brink of death in order to save him from himself, from his own rebellion. Anyone or anything other than God could not have delivered Jonah at this point.

Susie: Jonah praised God for his deliverance, for bringing him up from the death grip of the sea. God could have called another prophet to go to Nineveh in Jonah’s place; but even in His judgment of Jonah’s sin, the Lord displayed mercy and grace to rescue him and allow him to continue in His service.

QUESTIONS

1.        By faith, Jonah says he will once again see the temple. Why would that be important to Jonah?

2.        Why do you think Jonah recounted the details of his near drowning in his prayer?

3.        God gave Jonah a second chance to obey Him. Has God ever given you a second chance? Describe that occasion and your reaction.