Rock Bottom Is Not the End

Passage: Jonah 2:1-10  |  Preacher: Dr. Shaun Miles  |  Series: Jonah, The Grace of God on Full Display

Dr. Miles once asked a lifeguard a question he had always wondered about. Is it true that when someone is drowning in a rip current, you wait until they stop fighting before you swim out to them?

The answer was immediate. That is the first thing we learn. If they are still fighting, the strength left in them will pull you under, and you are the one who came to save them.

“Until they come to the end of themselves, then they can absolutely be rescued.”

That is the whole of Jonah chapter 2 in a sentence. A prophet who had been running, who had gone down to Joppa, down into the ship, down into its hold, down into the sea, and finally down into the belly of a great fish, stops fighting. And the moment he does, God moves.

The big idea Dr. Miles set before us: when our rebellion takes us to the depths, God’s grace gives us access to Him, restores us through repentance, and reminds us that salvation belongs to the Lord.

1. Jonah realizes, and God’s heart is patient

Something happens to us at the bottom. The illusion goes. Jonah could not control the storm, could not control the wind or the waves, and he certainly could not control the fish. What he realized there, he could not have realized anywhere else.

He realized he was not the king of his own life. He was a prophet in covenant with God, and he had been living as though his life were his own. Jesus asks the same question in Luke 6:46. Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? There is only one throne in a heart, and it is not ours to sit on.

He realized his decisions carry consequences. We are quick in our churches to call rebellion a mistake. You can accidentally run a red light. You can accidentally spill coffee. Some things are not accidents. They are a long series of conscious decisions, and calling them something softer does not help anyone.

Jonah’s rebellion never stayed with Jonah. It endangered the sailors. It disrupted God’s mission. It left Nineveh sitting in danger while the man sent to warn them sailed the other way. Dr. Miles told of driving a rental car off-road in the Judean desert to show his team some sheep, puncturing the oil pan, and realizing in that moment that one careless decision could have touched more than thirty churches and seventy pastors in Vietnam who depended on him.

And he realized he could not save himself. No more swimming. No more effort. Rock bottom strips away the illusion of self-sufficiency, and few people seek rescue while they still believe they can rescue themselves.

2. Jonah repents, and God’s mercy is available

Repentance is not the same as being sorry, and it is certainly not the same as being sorry you were caught. Watch what Jonah actually does in his prayer. He remembers. He retraces the journey honestly, all the way down. He acknowledges that the hand on him was God’s own hand, disciplining him.

Then he names the sin underneath the sin. Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness. Jonah is admitting that the idol was himself. He had enthroned himself over God.

And then he steps down. I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed, I will pay. That is repentance in its biblical shape: turning from one direction and attaching yourself to the Lord in the other. Dethroning self, and enthroning God.

“Salvation is from the Lord.”

Not You and Jonah. You, and You alone.

3. Jonah receives, and God’s grace is on full display

Count the downs in chapter 1. There are five of them, spread over about eight days of running. Then read Jonah 2:10 and notice the direction reverses in a single word. The Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto dry land.

Not into the surf, with a little extra breath and some encouragement to paddle for shore. Onto dry land. Ready to go, ready to obey, ready to walk out what he had said he would walk out. God does not hand out halfway salvation, and the idea that He saves us partway and we make up the difference is foolishness.

“What rebellion spent days destroying, God’s grace restored in a moment.”

Jonah did not rescue himself. The fish did not rescue him. The boat did not rescue him. The Lord commanded, and the Lord rescued him. God used the fish, the boat, and the sea, and He will use anything and anybody for His glory. But the rescue was His.

Three things about God stand out of this chapter. He is slow to anger, patient enough to let a running prophet pray to Him from inside a fish. He is merciful, and did not give Jonah what he deserved. He is gracious, and gave Jonah what he did not deserve at all.

The gospel before the gospel

Dr. Miles has his own November. On the 22nd, in 2001, the night before Thanksgiving, he was pulled over and arrested and spent the night at rock bottom in the Volusia County Jail. He had given his heart to the Lord at fourteen, at a camp, and his life had come apart afterward, though he never could fall asleep without telling God he was sorry for not walking with Him.

That night was different. It was as though the Lord stood at the end of the bunk and asked him what about the plans He had for his life. It was not the belly of a fish. But by his own account it smelled close enough.

“He did it for Jonah. He did it for Shaun. He’ll do it for you.”

The pattern in Jonah 2 is the gospel, centuries before the gospel was preached. Realize you are a sinner in need of a Savior. Repent, stepping off the throne of your own heart and enthroning Him. Receive the salvation only He can give. It is what Jesus Himself preached in Mark 1:15. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Your wait is over.

You have not gone further than His grace can reach. Maybe your marriage is at rock bottom. Maybe your health is. Maybe it is something no one else knows about. It does not matter how far down it went. In one moment, God can turn it around.

Small-Group Discussion Questions

The Bridge Church of Jacksonville
528 Ash St, Orange Park, FL 32073
Sundays 10 AM and 6 PM