Scripture: Jonah 1:1-17; 3:1-5, 10
I want to make three points in this sermon, which will concern, Number One: God’s plans… Number Two: God’s power… And Number Three: God’s providence…
But first… God’s plans…
Are you old enough to remember these words while watching TV: “This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test… BEE-E-E-E-E-E-EP… This was only a test. If this had been an actual emergency…” blah-blah-blah?
Do they still do that? With streaming, I hardly watch local TV anymore. But I remember that annoying signal coming on at random times.
There I was as a kid, minding my own business—watching cartoons, or the The Three Stooges, or reruns of Gilligan’s Island and My Three Sons—when suddenly that blaring tone would sound. BEE-E-E-E-E-E-EP…
It was disruptive.
And it was always “only a test.”
Speaking of disruptions, listen to the beginning of today’s scripture: “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah…”
A more literal translation of “now” is “and”—“And the word of the Lord came…” Either way, it signals interruption. Jonah is in the middle of life—minding his own business, maybe even carrying out God’s previous word—when suddenly a new word comes and disrupts everything.
Up to this point, Jonah had a respectable career as a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel under King Jeroboam II—whose 41-year reign was marked by economic growth, military success, and expanded borders—nearly back to where they were under Solomon.
But spiritually, the nation was declining. Idolatry. Immorality. And prophets like Amos and Hosea were preaching hard truths no one wanted to hear.
Yet Jonah? Jonah brought good news.
In 2 Kings 14:25, he tells Jeroboam that Israel’s borders will be restored—that they’ll reclaim lost territory. It’s a message of success… growth… prosperity.
That’s not typical for a prophet.
So this is who Jonah is—a successful, patriotic prophet. He’s watching God bless his nation. Maybe even thinking, “Things are looking up—for Israel… and for me.”
And then—BEE-E-E-E-E-E-EP.
God interrupts.
But unlike the Emergency Broadcast System, this is not “only a test.” This is real. This is an emergency.
God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh—the capital of Israel’s greatest enemy, the Assyrian empire—and “call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
Their sin has reached a breaking point. Judgment is coming. And Jonah is supposed to announce it.
And Jonah wants nothing to do with it.
In fact, verse 3 says he runs—not east toward Nineveh, but west—as far as he can go—to Tarshish—likely modern-day Spain. As far as Jonah is concerned, it might as well be the ends of the earth.
He does not want to go to Nineveh.
And if we didn’t know the rest of the story, that should confuse us.
Because think about it: if you’re Jonah—a patriotic prophet who’s used to announcing good news to Israel—why wouldn’t you want this assignment?
If God is about to wipe out Nineveh, Israel’s greatest enemy, wouldn’t you at least want a front-row seat—from a safe distance?
So what’s the problem?
We don’t find out until chapter 4—after Nineveh repents and God spares them. Jonah is furious.
Listen to his prayer:
“O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I fled… for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”
He’s quoting God’s own words from Exodus 34.
Now we see the problem.
Jonah didn’t run because he feared his mission would fail. He ran because he feared it would succeed!
See, Jonah knew his Bible. He knew God’s character. He knew that if Nineveh repented, God would show mercy. Because that’s just the kind of God he is!
And Jonah couldn’t stand the thought of God showing mercy to his enemy.
So God wasn’t sending him on a mission of death and destruction. He was sending him on a mission of mercy and grace.
And Jonah wanted nothing to do with that plan.
In fact, he probably figured that if he didn’t go to Nineveh, his enemies wouldn’t have the opportunity to repent and God would have no choice but to wipe them off the map!
Yay!
But we know better, right? We know that God loves our enemies far more than we love our enemies. “For God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners”—that is, God’s enemies, rebels against God our king—“Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.
We’re supposed to not only love our enemies, Jesus says, but we’ve been given a commission—like Jonah’s—to proclaim the gospel and save people, so that they will no longer be God’s enemies, and they will repent and be saved.
I mean, if God called us on a mission to go and rescue people from their sins, from God’s future judgment, and from hell, we wouldn’t refuse that call, right?
Oh dear church… God has called us… He is calling us to do just that!
In fact, isn’t that at least partly why God disrupted our plans a few years ago… as United Methodists?
I mean, when I interviewed with this church last summer, I had to apologize to the hiring committee for being so rusty at job interviews! I wasn’t supposed to have to worry about job interviews anymore. Because 21 years earlier I became part of the itinerant system of the United Methodist Church. Clergy like me weren’t supposed to interview anymore! We would just get sent by the bishop to a particular church, like it or not…
That was my plan… It had its shortcomings, sure… but at least I wouldn’t have to update my résumé anymore or get an account on LinkedIn.
To say the least, God disrupted my plans.
And I know I’m talking to a lot of people who are nursing some wounds from your particular change of plans… You never dreamed of leaving a church you loved and labored for and invested so much in over the years… Your plan was to stay… until God disrupted your plans.
So here we both are… in the same boat…
And although, like Jonah, our boat has experienced some storms and heavy winds over the last two years… we’re ultimately in this boat for the same reason as Jonah: to rescue people from their sins… to enable them to repent… to enable them to find salvation through Christ.
I don’t know if the people living around 516 Godfrey Road have any idea that that’s why God has disrupted our plans and will soon send us there… But we know… we know our mission… to nurture disciples to share Christ’s light… to be empowered by the Spirit to be Christ’s witnesses in the little corner of the world that God is sending us to… To make disciples of the people of Five Forks, of Simpsonville, of Greenville County, of the Upstate, of South Carolina and beyond…
So I believe God disrupted our plans for the same reasons he disrupted Jonah’s plans: to fulfill his mission to save people.
And God’s plans are always better than our own…
So… Are we ready to go?
That’s Point Number One… God’s disruptive plans for his people…
Number Two… God’s power…
Look at verse 4: “But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.” And what happens? The captain and the crew start praying—hard.
Keep in mind, these sailors are Gentiles… pagans… polytheists. They believe that many gods exist, each with limited power. So their strategy is simple: “Let’s pray to as many as we can. Cover our bases. Maybe one of these gods will stop this storm.”
It’s like in Acts 17, when Paul is in Athens—surrounded by more idols than he had ever seen before—sees the altar “to an unknown god”—you know, just in case these pagan people left one out. The people of Athens didn’t want to offend any of the gods!
And that’s the world these sailors lived in: lots of gods… each with limited power… each easily offended.
So the captain makes sure everyone is praying to their gods.
And then he finds this man Jonah… asleep.
Not sleeping peacefully—just checked out. Feeling depressed. Feeling hopeless.
So he wakes him up. Verse 6: “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
And we can’t argue with the captain’s logic. “Jonah—if your God has any power at all—you should be praying!”
And why isn’t Jonah praying?
Because he believes that to do so is hopeless. He knows exactly why the storm is happening. God is mad at him. God is punishing him. Prayer at this point would be futile.
But of course that doesn’t make any sense…
This is the same Jonah, after all, who believes so strongly in God’s mercy and grace that he ran away from Nineveh because he just knew God would forgive those wicked people.
So why does Jonah think God wouldn’t also forgive Jonah… if he just repented and asked for forgiveness?
Does Jonah think God is more merciful to wicked Ninevites than to him—one of God’s beloved children?
“Come on, Jonah!”
Jonah is not acting in a way that’s consistent with his faith.
Eventually the sailors figure out what’s going on and who’s to blame for the storm. Jonah tells them in verse 9: “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
And verse 10 says the men were “exceedingly afraid.”
Why?
Because now they understand something Jonah seems to have forgotten: If God made the sea… you can’t run away from God… by boarding a ship… on the sea…
In other words: Jonah professes to believe that God is in control of this storm… but he’s not living—or praying—like he believes God is in control. If he were, he would be praying.
Jonah is not acting in a way that’s consistent with his faith.
Again… Good thing we’re not like Jonah… right?
Because who do we believe our God is?
Do we pray like we believe this?
Isaiah 59:1 is a favorite verse of mine about prayer. The prophet says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear.”
What does that mean? His “ear is not dull”: he hears every prayer.
And his hand is not shortened—that is, he has all the power in the universe and beyond to act on our behalf. God can work through miracles for us… or God can work through ordinary means to help us… or God can work through people to give us what we need.
After all, Romans 8:28 tells us he is always working for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose—i.e., his children through faith in Christ.
We’re already supposed believe all that.
But do we pray like we believe it?
Or are we, like Jonah, failing to live—and pray—in a way that’s consistent with our faith?
That’s Point Number Two… God’s power… God has all the power to help us… and because he loves us as his adopted children, we can be sure that he wants to do good for us.
And this brings us to Point Number Three… God’s providence.
Jonah’s plan was to run away from God—to sail in the opposite direction from where God was calling him. But God refused to give up on him—even if Jonah was ready to give up on God. And verse 4—which we’ve already looked at—records what may be some of the most merciful words in all of Scripture: “But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.”
You might say, “That doesn’t sound very merciful.”
But it is. Because if you belong to God through faith in Christ, then every storm God sends—or allows to happen—is not meant to destroy us…
It’s meant to rescue us. It’s meant to heal us. It’s meant to help us. It’s meant to make us treasure and trust in Christ more. It’s meant for our good.
John Wesley, the founder of our Methodist movement, would certainly agree. As most of you know, he spent a couple of difficult, fruitless years as a pastor and missionary in the new British colony of Georgia. Do you know about people from Georgia? They are are stubborn and challenging—then as now. And Wesley had high expectations of the colonists. Why wouldn’t they want to get up at 5:00 in the morning and study the Bible with him?
Regardless, if you go to Reynolds Square today, in the historic district of Savannah, there’s a statue of Wesley where his original parsonage stood.
But on the month-long journey from England to America in January 1736, a violent storm in the Atlantic threatened to sink the ship.
He and his fellow Englishmen were terrified, screaming in fear. Meanwhile a group of German missionaries and their families—associated with the Moravian church—were circled up, holding hands, and singing hymns—men, women, children. Wesley was impressed by their confidence, their calm, their lack of fear. He asked one of them later why they were so calm when everyone else on board was panicking. This man said, “We’re not afraid to die.”
Wesley later realized that the difference between these Moravian Christians and himself was that they were saved, and he wasn’t.
In his journal he wrote,
I have a fair summer religion. I can talk well; nay, and believe myself, while no danger is near; but let death look me in the face, and my spirit is troubled. Nor can I say, ‘To die is gain!’[1]
Wesley was so impressed by the faith of these Moravians that when he came back to England, he made friends with some of them. And Wesley was literally at a Moravian-sponsored Bible study on Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738, at 8:45 p.m., when—as he wrote in his journal—“my heart was strangely warmed,” and “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”[2]
And immediately afterward, the Methodist renewal movement began sweeping across England, Scotland, and Ireland and across the Atlantic to the colonies of America.
It’s no exaggeration to say that you and I are in this church this morning in part because God sent a storm! Literally millions of saints are in heaven in part because God sent a storm!
Something similar is happening through Jonah.
Look at verse 16: after the sea calms, “the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.” When it says they made “vows,” that implies that for the rest of their lives they would abandon idolatry and serve the one true God.
If it took a storm to bring them to saving faith, then the storm was worth it.
Or what about the 120,000 Ninevites? If God hadn’t sent this storm, Jonah never would have turned back, never would have gone to Nineveh, never would have preached—and these people never would have repented.
Do you see what God is doing?
He’s using Jonah’s storm to accomplish many good purposes—good purposes for Jonah… and for the world.
And by the way, you may read the end of Jonah and think, “We don’t even know if Jonah ever had a change of heart.” Well of course we do! We only know his story—and possess the book that bears his name—because he shared his story with the world. Which meant that he learned and grew and changed from this experience. So God used the storm to accomplish great things for him, too.
And God does the same in our lives.
Laura Story captured this beautifully in her song “Blessings,” written while her husband was battling a life-threatening illness. It includes these poignant words:
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
…
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
I haven’t known a thousand sleepless nights, but I’ve known more than a few in my life. I bet you have, too.
Is it possible that that situation or person or event in your life—that storm in your life—which caused or is causing those sleepless nights is precisely what you need to “know that God is near,” to draw closer to him, to trust in him more, to depend on him more? And if the end result of that “storm” you’re going through is that you finally learn this lesson—and your faith in Jesus is strengthened—and you love and treasure Christ more—and you know more joy, more peace, more contentment, more satisfaction in life—wouldn’t it all have been worth it?
Of course it would!
Finally… where do we see Jesus and the gospel in this story? Of course we’ve already seen it a little bit in God’s grace and mercy, which we’ve talked about…
But listen: during his earthly ministry, Jesus himself referred to “the sign of Jonah”—because Jonah points us to who Jesus is and what he came to do.
Think about this:
Apart from Christ, we are the ones on that ship—caught in a storm we cannot survive. We stand under God’s judgment because of our sin. And like Jonah, we deserve to be cast into the depths—to face separation from God.
Jonah, like Jesus, offered to sacrifice his own life to save others… Of course Jonah would be dying for his own sins.
Jesus, of course, would be dying for everyone else’s.
Jesus didn’t just face a storm—he took the full storm of God’s wrath against sin upon himself.
On the cross, he was cast into the deep… so that we wouldn’t have to be.
And three days later—like Jonah—he rose again.
Why?
So that the good news could go out to the nations… even to sinners like us… so that we could repent, believe, and be saved.
So here’s the question:
Will we keep running from God like Jonah… Or will we turn to the one who was thrown into the storm for us?
Because the storm has already been faced. The price has already been paid. And the invitation is open…
So come to your Savior Jesus… or come back to Jesus… and find new life… and find it more abundantly… Come to Jesus for the first time… or the second time… or he two-hundred-and-second time… and find forgiveness of sin… and find greater love and joy and peace and grace…
But come to Jesus and find the life you were meant to live…
[1] “The Voyage to England,” ccel.org. Accessed 21 January 2021.
[2] “What Is Aldersgate Day?” umc.org. Accessed 21 January 2021.