Sometimes in life, we are faced with difficult situations that only we, for whatever reason, can address. Here’s a clip from The Fellowship of the Ring – Bilbo Baggins has just had his farewell party and has left all his worldly possessions to Frodo, including a ring.

[Show clip] The Fellowship of the Ring Scene 6

‘What do you want me to do?’ - Frodo’s response to Gandalf when he realises that he is the person who has to do something.

In our reading tonight from Jonah, we found Jonah inside a Fish. How did he get there? Last week, we learned he had attempted to run away from a job that God had asked him to do – a job that to him was more akin to a suicide mission – a job that involved going to the centre of the then world’s greatest empire and telling them that they were about to be destroyed because of the way they were living. Today, it would be like going and knocking on 10 Downing Street and telling the Prime Minister that this country was about to be completely destroyed. Would you want to face the consequences of delivering such a message?

In the case of Jonah, he thought that by relocating, by fleeing to a far away place, he could go somewhere where God wouldn’t be able to find him or reach him, and where life could resume something of normality. Notice, for a minute, the contrast to Frodo: Even though Frodo initially offers the ring to Gandalf, he quickly realises that he is the one – the only one who can fulfil the quest – a journey where great dangers would be faced and with no guarantee of success, or his own survival – a mission that would forever change his life – a mission he engages with from the beginning.

‘What do you want me to do?’ – not the question that Jonah asked. Now, it’s very easy to point the finger at Jonah and say ‘what on earth were you thinking?’ Yet, we need to ask ourselves what would our response have been if we had been in Jonah’s shoes? Would we have been a Jonah or a Frodo? Because when push comes to shove and when our own life is under threat, what often matters most is concern for our own skin!

Consider this scenario for a moment:

Imagine this happening to you…
One Sunday morning during service, a 2,000 member congregation was surprised to see two men enter…
…both covered from head to toe in black and carrying submachine guns.
One of the men proclaimed ‘Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ, remain where you are.’
Immediately, the choir fled
The deacons fled
And most of the congregation fled.
Out of the 2,000, there only remained 20
The man who had spoken took off his hood…
He then looked at the preacher and said ‘Okay Pastor, I got rid of all the hypocrites…
Now you may begin your service. Have a nice day.’
And the two men turned and walked out.

Ask yourself the question ‘what would your response have been?’ The threat of possible death is enough to send most people running for cover – preservation of one’s life at all costs is often what kicks in. Preservation though at the cost of one’s faith – that which one believes in however, is a different story.

In our passage, we know that Jonah was an Israelite – in other words, he was a man who knew God and would have been able to recount the history of God’s involvement, God’s provision, and God’s deliverance in the life of his people. Yet despite all of this, Jonah wavers in his faith and falls to the lowest point possible. In verse 2 Jonah describes this as ‘the depths of the grave’ – in other words, the end of life - one cannot sink any lower! All hope is gone – there is no conceivable way out of this predicament!

We’re going to see a clip from the science fiction programme Stargate Atlantis. The Stargate (a large metal ring) is what enables people to travel between different planets thousands of light years apart. Without it, one obviously speaking cannot travel between worlds. In this episode the Atlantis team has recently made contact with another civilisation that are experiencing volcanic tremors and are trying to help them evacuate their world to escape the impending and certain doom that awaits them if they remain.

[show clip]

Later in the programme, McKay (the Scientist) realises that their situation is hopeless and that they need a miracle to get off the planet. Suffice to say, they do get their miracle and find a way off the planet just before the volcano erupts, destroying everything.

In our passage, Jonah feels that his situation is hopeless and knows that he needs a miracle. It is at this point that Jonah cries out to God and realises that there is nowhere to hide from God. As Psalm 139 says:
Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute – you’re already there waiting!

Jonah has now discovered the truth of this Psalm – he cannot flee from God, because God was already in the very heart of that big fish to welcome him. And as he cries out to God, the miracle he requires to save him is sent – the big fish spits him out.

Let me ask you – have you ever felt as if you’ve been in Jonah’s position? Have you tried to run away from God? Or have you ignored God or refused to listen to Him? Or have you felt as if there is no way out? Some of you might say yes to one of these – some of you might say no. The important thing to remember is that there is no place, no circumstance in which we cannot call out to God even in our darkest moments. In fact it is often in our darkest moments that God wants us to cry out to him so that he can help us – if we don’t ask, how can he ever help us? If all else has failed us, what have we got to lose by crying out to God?

The incredible thing that Jonah tells us is that no matter how deep we feel we’ve fallen, how deep our pit is, God is there – God reaches in and by his mercy and grace rescues us. And that’s the point – his mercy and grace is available to all no matter where we are or what we’ve done. You can feel as if you’re not loved by anyone and that the world’s all against you, but this does not change the objective reality that God still loves you and me!!

Of course, for some of us, that will not change our situation. We might still be in a dark place but even if we can’t see God in these times, as Jonah shows us, he is still there with us.

As one writer described it:

Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

Mary Stevenson, 1936