Is Your Rock-Bottom Actually God’s Rescue?|03.08.26|When God Loves Your Enemy pt.3

Last week, I heard a quote that I really like: “Every overnight success is years in the making.”

And I was thinking about how true that is. Because we all love comeback stories, don’t we? We love to cheer on the athlete who rebuilds her career after a devastating injury. We love to champion the addict who reinvents himself and starts a new lease on life. We love to share the story of the business owner who rises from failure to finally “make it.”

But here’s the part we DON’T love: the struggle it took to get there. We all want a comeback story in our own lives, but none of us are desiring the rock bottom moment when you realize that no matter how hard you try, you can’t fix yourself.

Maybe you’ve felt that rock bottom moment.

When the cracks in your marriage finally break.

When the hidden sin gets exposed.

Maybe you’ve felt the public embarrassment of financial collapse.

Maybe you’ve felt the utter loneliness of that health diagnosis.

We LOVE redemption stories, but too many of us would rather avoid the struggle, the pain, the confrontation that is required for us to grow and change in the ways that God wants to work in us to bring about the plan he has in mind.

We all want the winning part… we just don’t want the drowning part.

Which brings us to Jonah. We’ve been spending these last few weeks rescuing the story of Jonah from what I like to call the “VeggieTales Factor,” where all we know about a story involves some cute cartoon pictures and a smiling whale.

And today, we’re actually going to get to the whale! Our text refers to it as a “large fish,” but it’s not a miracle adventure or a cool survival story, “how amazing that God provided the fish to rescue Jonah from the storm and miraculously travel him right to the beach he needed to get to!”

No, this is rock bottom in Jonah’s story.

So far in the story, Jonah has been running away from God, running away from his call and purpose in life, running away from the possibility that God might show mercy to his enemies, the Assyrians, because they are “too far gone” for mercy.

So he’s run away, and he’s out on the open sea, wind in his hair, nothing but the horizon in front of him. And he thinks he’s pursuing freedom. Freedom from the mantle of responsibility that God had called him to. Freedom from obedience to a mission he hates.

But Danny pointed it out last week: all we have to do is trace the prepositions. He goes DOWN to Joppa. He goes DOWN into the hold of the ship. He lays DOWN to sleep. He’s going to continue DOWN into the sea, DOWN to the roots of the mountains.

Where he was headed wasn’t freedom, it was confinement and imprisonment and death.

And we need to realize that Jonah’s selfish disobedience didn’t just affect him. He gets caught in the storm, which endangers the sailors he’s travelling with. But, maybe he’s thinking “they are pagan, so who cares?”

His running from God’s call endangers the fate of Nineveh, but they are his enemies, so maybe he’s thinking “good!”

His refusal to even engage with God in the storm forces these strangers to toss him into the ocean, because he’s refusing to take responsibility for his own death. Making them commit murder.

Your disobedience to God endangers more than just you.

Jonah has gone down, down, down. And if our story ended after the final verse in chapter one, being swallowed by a fish is the end. It’s a watery tomb for a disobedient prophet who ran from God.

Even in our lives, rock bottom feels like the end. But when God is involved, it’s never the end.

[Scripture Ref]

So open your Bibles with me to Jonah ch2. And just a reminder that we’re working together to be a church family that is continually learning how to deeply study Scripture for ourselves, so I’m going to be encouraging you to bring your own Bibles with you to church! Because I want you to become more and more familiar with your own Bible. I want you to be taking notes, underlining, highlighting things that stand out to you.

So whether you have your paper Bible in your hand, or maybe you’re using the Bible app on your phone, you might have some study notes at the bottom of this section that gives more context for this chapter of our prophetic narrative.

Because throughout the other prophetic literature in the Bible, a recurring theme is the “belly of the beast.” In fact, many of the prophets who speak during the period of exile, after Jonah’s people are defeated and carried away from their homes, they use imagery like this to describe what happens when God’s people rebel.

They describe rebellion as being swallowed up, being engulfed by raging waters, being devoured by a monster. And as we read this section together, we’re going to see that Jonah is prophetically LIVING Israel’s story.

Sometimes we do, too. In our lives, landing in the belly of the beast is experiencing the mess you made. The consequences catching up. The final collapse of the illusion we were propping up. It’s when we get to that place where we can’t go any lower.

Have you been there? Have you experienced that?

Well, as we read together, the question for us to ponder for our own lives is this: what comes out of you when you wake up in the dark? Let’s read…

[Jonah 2:1-10] (start with 1:17)

[Jonah 2:1]

So Jonah gets swallowed by the large fish, and he’s in the belly of the beast for three days… and THEN Jonah prayed. AFTER three days. What was he doing for those three days other than composing this poetic prayer? We don’t know.

But we do know this: sometimes it takes time to SETTLE at rock bottom. Sometimes we sink the lowest we’ve ever been, but we’re waiting to see if anything else will collapse. Sometimes we’re waiting to see if it will fix itself. We’re hoping we can still control the outcome. We’re hoping it’s not as bad as it looks.

But eventually, you realize: it’s over. You’re not getting out on your own. And that realization can be terrifying, but it’s also the beginning of God’s grace. Because rock bottom isn’t where we run out of God’s grace. It’s often where we finally discover it.

[Jonah 2:2]

“I called to the Lord out of my distress, AND HE ANSWERED…”

Do you realize that this is the first time in the entire book of Jonah that he’s actually speaking to God?

In chapter 1, God spoke, but Jonah ran. The storm came, but Jonah slept. The sailors begged him to pray, but Jonah stayed silent and outsourced his own death.

Now… Jonah finally calls out to God, he finally prays… and God answers. IMMEDIATELY.

Do we see how there is NEVER a moment that is too late for God?

You are never too far gone. You are never too broken. You are never too buried.

Even when you’ve already exhausted every resource you have. Even when you have burned every bridge. Even when you have depleted the good graces of everyone around you… God is not done with you. He’s just getting started!

[Jonah 2:3]

Verse 3 introduces what Pastor Tim Mackie calls “God’s Severe Mercy.” Jonah says in his prayer to God that “you hurled me into the deep.” But we know that it was the sailors that threw him in…?

Well, hitting rock bottom has apparently woken Jonah up from his numbness towards God, because Jonah now sees God’s hand at work in and through the circumstances that landed Jonah where he is.

But we need to be clear because conversations about awful things happening to us and around us can make us uncomfortable when we start to draw lines of connection to God’s sovereignty and power.

So we need to hear this: God did not cause Jonah’s sin. He didn’t cause Jonah to disobey and run in these ways so that he could orchestrate the events that transpired.

God didn’t cause Jonah’s sin. But he DID use Jonah’s collapse to break through with his mercy.

The 16th century reformer, Martin Luther said that “God’s judgment makes us aware of our sins, and [reveals our need] for God’s saving mercy in Jesus Christ.” So even when God’s words or actions of judgment seem harsh, they are always in service to his more “proper” work of love and forgiveness.

And that’s what we see here with God’s “severe mercy.” It’s severe because it involves a near drowning, confinement, and being completely humbled.

But it’s also mercy, because it stopped him from taking his rebellion all the way to true disconnection from God and his own death.

See, if God’s ultimate goal was to give you comfort, then any time he brings judgment, it feels cruel. Why would God let this happen to me? Why would a good God allow this kind of suffering? - - - We question it because it isn’t bringing us comfort, and so it feels cruel.

But God’s ultimate goal isn’t to give us comfort; it’s to bring about transformation in us. And if that’s the case, even things that seem severe are actually his mercy.

What if… the thing that makes it feel like God is against you… is actually the proof that he refuses to let you go? That he loves you too much to let you follow through on the direction you were taking your life…?

That’s pretty confrontational. It’s pretty severe. But it’s also hopeful. Merciful.

[Jonah 2:4]

Because Jonah ALMOST got what he wanted. Verse 4 says, “I am driven away from your sight…” Isn’t that what Jonah wanted? Distance from God. But as he pursued that very thing, it felt like death.

God does that sometimes. He lets us taste the things we thought we wanted. Sometimes we think freedom is autonomy, the ability to decide for ourselves and not have to be accountable to the community or responsible for others.

Until we experience it. And we realize that autonomy from God is emptiness, isolated, lonely.

Jonah thought that God was the problem. He couldn’t stand the mission that God had called him to, and he ran. He ran for his life. But in doing so, he discovered he was running from the only thing keeping him alive.

[Jonah 2:5-6]

And as he is sinking lower and lower, down and down, to the roots of the mountains… barred in forever in the mythical prison beneath the sea… he hit bottom.

And God met him there. Notice that Jonah doesn’t climb out. He doesn’t fix himself. He doesn’t reinvent himself to make a comeback.

[Rock Bottom]

God meets him at rock bottom. And GOD brings him up from the pit. Because rock bottom isn’t where grace runs out. Rock bottom is often where we finally discover God’s grace. It’s where we finally discover that we were never saving ourselves.

Everyone likes a comeback story, where someone pulls themselves up by the bootstraps and reinvents themselves. But God doesn’t require us to fix ourselves before he can use us. His love and grace isn’t dependent on OUR effort, OUR understanding, OUR action.

In fact, God’s love can work through our darkest moments to teach us new levels of faith, dependence, and gratitude. God’s love can work in the dirtiest parts of our lives to plant the seeds that sprout into the fruit of the Spirit in us… if we allow them to.

If we can accept the severe mercy of God, we can see that hitting rock bottom in the mess we’ve made is often when God’s grace is just getting started.

[Jonah 2:7-9]

And as Jonah is finishing his poetic prayer, he ends in a posture of worship. Before he is rescued from the belly of the fish. That’s huge, isn’t it? Jonah worships BEFORE he is delivered.

But he’s not worshiping God in order to force God’s hand. Worship isn’t a pre-requisite for God’s mercy. He’s not standing there with his arms crossed, waiting for us to worship him correctly before he acts. Worship is a RESPONSE to God’s mercy.

Jonah has tasted and seen what life is like when he runs from the source of life, and God has mercifully kept him from back from the brink. God has met him in his lowest moment. And Jonah can finally see the full extent of God’s mercy that is offered even when it seems like he is too far gone.

He’s not bargaining, he’s finally surrendering. And then he says the line that I think is the turning point for the entire book of Jonah, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.”

Salvation doesn’t belong to our effort. Salvation doesn’t belong to our attempts at control. It doesn’t belong to image management or comeback strategies.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. And here’s the tension: we LOVE that salvation belongs to the Lord… when it applies to US. Jonah is thrilled that God, in his mercy, is willing to dish out his mercy… to Jonah.

But what about Nineveh? Because, here’s a sneak peek for the next couple weeks: Jonah is going to get mad when Nineveh hears his call to repentance… and actually repents!

Jonah can’t STAND that people he hates would turn to God and start to change and heal and grow. He can’t stand that God would show them mercy, even when it seems like they are “too far gone.”

[blank]

But that’s the scandal of grace. We have songs about God’s “amazing grace,” because we’re so grateful when he shows his grace to US. But the SCANDALOUS part of grace is when it’s offered to people we don’t think deserve it.

And if I’m being honest, I’m pretty bothered by how God shows grace to Jonah. I get annoyed at the fact that Jonah writes this poetic prayer that makes him SOUND so spiritually mature… when we KNOW he hasn’t fully changed yet.

I think it’s so wrong that his theology is better than the state of his heart. He knows exactly what to say… but has he actually let it change his habits of hate and judgment and reactivity?

One of the most beautiful themes of this book is also one of the ones that bothers me the most: God rescues Jonah BEFORE he’s fully changed.

But that’s such good news, isn’t it?! Because if God waited until we were fully transformed, we’d still be drowning!

That’s why it’s so incredible that God’s grace doesn’t require us to fix ourselves before he can work in us. His love doesn’t depend on our ability to do the right things first, or understand the right things first, or have the right words first… before he can save us.

We love because God FIRST loved us and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. It is by grace we have been saved!

God is the one who rescues us, even while we are at rock bottom and unable to help in any way, and then he CONTINUES the work of healing and transforming and inviting us along in his path of salvation. Salvation belongs to the Lord!

[Stop Waiting]

So, you might be listening to me right now and realize that you are CURRENTLY in the belly of the beast. You might feel currently at rock bottom. You might feel currently that you are too far gone.

Not every belly of the beast is self-inflicted. Sometimes we’re there because of someone else’s sin or simply because we live in a broken world.

If you feel like you’re experiencing rock bottom, you need to stop waiting, and start praying.

You need to stop defending yourself. You need to stop casting blame on all the different things that got you here. You need to stop numbing yourself and avoiding the voice of God.

You need to stop waiting, and start praying honestly.

Look at Jonah’s example, and cry out to God, because he hears you. He cares for you.

And understand that you don’t need to be fully changed first. You don’t have to do some elaborate process to prove your sincerity. You don’t have to clean yourself up first.

Just call out to God. And then, obey what he tells you to do.

If he tells you to turn back to him, turn to him. If he tells you to rest, rest. If he tells you to get up and connect with that person you’ve been avoiding, reach out to them this week.

Because God’s grace meets us in our lowest moments, but it’s not just to rescue us and return us back to a neutral state. God’s grace is his power to heal and restore and LEAD us to where he’s calling us.

Grace always leads us somewhere, to take next steps of following Jesus.

[END]

And we want to become better and better followers of Jesus. Even though I’m grateful that the book of Jonah is in our witness of Scripture, because it gives us a unique look at humanity’s journey with God and mercy and grace… but Jonah isn’t someone that I want to follow.

We need a better leader. A better prophet. A better savior. We need Jesus.

And it’s interesting that Jesus actually mentions Jonah in Matthew ch12. He’s been trying to teach the people about the kingdom of God, and how God wants to change our hearts, not just our habits, and the religious leaders are baiting him and asking him to perform a miraculous sign to PROVE that he’s from God.

And he says, “the only sign you’ll get from me is the sign of Jonah. Just like he was in the belly of the monster for three days and nights, you’ll find out that I’ll be in the heart of the earth for three days and nights.”

Out of all the parts of the Jonah story that Jesus could have highlighted, he chose to point to the lowest moment. He chose to point to the fact that when Jonah hit rock bottom, God met him there.

And we need to know that there is no place too far gone where God can’t reach us, because Jesus dove headfirst into the grave to prove that he is willing to go as far and as deep as possible into the darkest places so that we are never alone there.

Jonah was swallowed by the fish because of his rebellion. But Jesus was swallowed by death because of ours.

Jonah was brought up by God out of the pit back to life. Jesus spent three days in the grips of death, but came out again holding the keys to that prison.

What looked like judgment was shown to be mercy. What looked like the end was actually new birth into new life.

And you need to hear me: rock bottom is not the end of your story. It might actually be the place where you discover that you were never the savior of your own life.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Isn’t that good news?