Jonah 2 - St Gabriel’s Study Notes INTRODUCTION This study is based around the format of the 4 W’s - Welcome, Worship, Word and Witness. This is a really simple format that gives an easy structure to Bible study. These notes can either be used with a small group or with individual study, prayer and worship. WELCOME: “The usual place to learn the greatest secrets of God’s grace is at the bottom.... Unless Jonah can see his own sin, and see himself as living wholly by the mercy of God, he will never understand how God can be merciful to evil people and still be just and faithful.”1 Timothy J. Keller - Consider a moment in your life when you hit a crisis point or time of extreme difficultly and pain? If you’re studying this as a group, are you willing to share that experience? - What support did you draw from during that time? What helped bring you out of it? WORSHIP In verse 9 Jonah prays: ‘But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’” Jonah is still in the belly of the fish at this point but his prayer turns to praise and worship. It is often easier to give thanks and praise God when times are good but there is huge power when we praise God when life is really tough. As Matt Redman writes in his song Blessed by your name: ‘Blessed be Your name, on the road marked with suffering’. If you are able, listen to this song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkdKJqQkYeo Or Read Psalm 138 and write it in your own words or illustrate with a drawing or diagram. WORD READ JONAH 2 Background: Where does this image of the belly of a fish fit within the wider biblical narrative? What does the author of the Jonah expect us to see in this image, in this moment of the story of a man swallowed up by a fish because of his own sin? If Jonah is a prophetic book, where does it fit within the other prophetic books? Find Hosea 8 (particularly focus on v. 1 - 2 and 8), Jeremiah 51: 34, and Psalm 124: 1 - 5. What similarities do you see in the language and imagery of these passages to Jonah 2? If Jonah’s story is the prophetic message speaking to God’s people, what might be the 1 Timothy J. Keller, The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy message being spoken here in this chapter? Verses 1 - 2: What causes Jonah to cry out to God? The NIV translates verse 2: ‘from deep in the realm of the dead I called for help’. The Hebrew word used here is ‘sheol’ (see Gen, 37:35, Num. 16:30, 1 Sam 2:6 Job 7:9 for other places where this word is used). How else could this word be translated? In light of this, what might the belly of the fish represent? Why do you think it has taken so long for Jonah to pray to God? Verse 3 - 6a From Jonah’s perspective, who has caused him to be thrown into the depths of the sea? Is this right? Why would Jonah say this? Consider the story of Joseph in Genesis. Read Gen. 50:20. What are the similarities here? Jonah turns his attention from his situation to God’s temple (v. 4 and v. 7). How does turning our attention to Jesus help to change our perspective on situations or circumstances? Verse 6b - 9 Jonah remembers the Lord as his life is ‘ebbing away’. Remembering who God is and what he has done is a repeated theme throughout the Old Testament. Why is this the case particularly when God’s people are in exile? What is the importance of remembering in our own journey of faith? How and why is remembering a part of our worship services? By the end of the prayer Jonah’s whole perspective has changed so much so that he can now declare that ‘Salvation comes from the Lord’ (v. 9). While Jonah never actually says sorry or words of repentance, do you think he is repentant? WITNESS/ RESPONSE: Read Romans 8: 28. How does this verse confirm the truth demonstrated in the story of Jonah? How has God ‘worked for good’ during times of pain, difficultly and suffering in your own life? Can you see how he might be doing it now? On Sunday Alistair said: ‘The reality is that people, and particularly in a place like Greystones, don't think they need God. Their life is going pretty good without him. There's no hole there so why would they need God to fill it? I know a lot of people out there who are just not convinced that they need Jesus in their lives and it's likely that we’re not going to be able to convince them otherwise. They are sailing towards Tarshish with no hint of a storm. But I believe that it's the role of Christians to continue to be present with these people because they're going to get to that point in their lives when they enter the storms of life - when they hit rock bottom and it is in those moments when we stand with them as people of Jesus and point to Jesus.’ Do you agree with this? Is there anyone in your life who you need to stand with in their time of hardship or hitting rock bottom? How could you point to Jesus if they don’t know Him? How could you be a conduit of Jesus’ presence?.