From Loss to Recovery
Contents
Jon 2:1-10 From loss to recovery
There is a book that once became a bestseller in the United States. This is a book titled 'The Restoration' by Charles Coulson. Coulson wrote this book after closely observing criminals incarcerated in prison. He says there are three types of prisoners in prison. First, a self-absorbed prisoner, second, a renunciation prisoner, and third, a recovery prisoner. Self-harmful prisoners commit suicide in despair. The worst prisoner. And there are convicts who give up. Now he admits that it's all over and sits down helplessly. If you die, you die; if you live, you live. You live your life the way you want it to be.
But there are recovery prisoners. Although he is currently in prison, he is a prisoner who, when he is released from prison, makes a plan to live a wonderful new life and lives confidently while waiting for that day. A prisoner who lives by using his time constructively and productively without losing hope. Although now I have lost my freedom, I have lost my family. I lost my job, I lost my hometown. I lost my friends, I lost everyone. However, he is a prisoner who dreams of recovery. A person who has changed from loss to recovery.
In today's text, this person appears as the main character. The main character, Jonah, is a representative model of a person from loss becoming a person of recovery. One day God appeared to Jonah and said, “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach the gospel.” After receiving this command, Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh to preach the gospel. Because Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a powerful nation at the time, and Assyria was the enemy of Israel. Jonah didn't want his enemies to be saved and to receive God's blessings.
So Jonah did not go to Nineveh, but got on a boat to Tarshish, the wrong Danes. Just then, a gentle wind blew. It went well against God's will. But it went well the first time, and it went well in the middle
It's not really going well. If the ending is good and the final evaluation is good, then it will be really good.
At first, the boat Jonah was riding in had a tail wind, but eventually a great storm occurred that humans could not control. The captain thought that these great storms were happening because there were great sinners on this ship. So everyone in the boat cast lots for the question, ‘Who the hell is the greatest sinner?’ Jonah was chosen correctly. He threw it into the stormy sea. Just then, a large fish swallowed Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
But he didn't die. The fish vomited Jonah to the beach. Jonah, who barely survived, went to Nineveh and preached the gospel. But when they heard the gospel of Jonah, all the people of Nineveh forsook their sins and returned to God. This is the story of the book of Jonah. The main character, Jonah, had lost three things.
1. Loss of direction
Jonah was lost. The direction God gave Jonah was Nineveh. But Jonah lost his direction and went to Tarshish. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest tragedy of modern people is to lose direction and live. God is going this way, but he is going that way. A person who has lost direction in life is what we call a fallen person, a lost person, or a poor person.
2. Loss of motivation
Jonah lost his motivation and was sleeping on the bottom of the boat. Ladies and gentlemen, a characteristic of a person who has lost his motivation is that he spends a lot of time lying down. waste your time in vain. Of course, there are reasons for the loss of motivation. Whether it's because of that person, because of that thing, or there's something I can't say.
3. Loss of owner
Most importantly, Jonah lost his master. Augustine said. “Man can enjoy true rest only in God because God created it.” Ladies and gentlemen, those who have lost God will have the pleasures of this world, but will not be able to enjoy the true peace and happiness that humans deserve. Jonah lost his master, God, and hid under the boat. This means that the fish has lost its water.
Thus Jonah was a lost man who had lost direction, lost his motivation, and lost his master. But Jonah found it again. he recovered. He came out of the belly of the fish and turned to Nineveh, where God told him to go. And he preached the gospel to them. The people of Nineveh who received Jonah's preaching repented from the king to the beasts. Jonah restored everything. How did Jonah recover all of that?
1. Suffering was the way of recovery.
Jonah is saying this in the belly of the fish. “I called to the Lord because of my affliction, and I called, and you answered me, and I cried out from the belly of Sheol, and you heard my voice” (verses 1-3), said the psalmist. “It is good for me to be afflicted. Because of this I have learned Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:71) Jonah was able to meet God because of suffering.
There is an unusual bird that lives in the southern seas of the Earth. It is a bird called an albatross. It is a very large bird with huge wings. Those wings are never a burden to the bird. With such large wings, the bird, although heavy, can fly far. Even if you do not use a lot of energy in the air, if you spread your wings, you will float in the air. The wind blowing hard at the bird is not a hindrance. The stronger the wind, the lighter it hits the wing.
Gentlemen, suffering is not a hindrance for us. The history of restoration takes place because of suffering. Because of suffering, we seek God, we repent because of suffering, we become humble because of suffering, we are changed because of suffering, and we become a new person. In a way, living abroad is accompanied by great pain even in small things. However, I pray that the work of restoration will take place in the midst of such suffering.
2. Prayer was the method of restoration.
Jonah prayed in the belly of the fish. “When my soul was weary within me, I thought of the Lord, and my prayer came to you, and to your temple” (verse 7). In the belly of the fish, Jonah had nothing to do but pray. But prayer immediately led to restoration.
When Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, a father with a young son came to him and begged him. “Jesus, this son of mine is possessed by a demon and is suffering greatly. A demon is trying to kill my son because he makes him fall into fire and also into water. Please help me if you can.” Jesus answered him. “What do you mean if it is possible? Nothing is impossible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23).
And Jesus rebuked the demon. “O dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of the child and do not enter it again.” Then the demon convulsed the child and knocked him over. Then people gossip. “The child appears to be dead.” But when Jesus took the child by the hand and raised him up, the demon went out and the child was completely healed. As the child recovered, the happiness of the family was also restored.
After seeing this amazing restoration work, the disciples asked Jesus the secret of the restoration. Then Jesus told me this secret. “Such kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:29) Everyone, no matter how difficult the circumstances, those who pray can recover. Jonah prayed in the belly of the fish. Then came the moment of recovery for him. Prayer is the way of recovery.
3. Looking back was the way of recovery.
Jonah says: “I said, ‘Even if I have been cast out of your sight, I will look to your temple again’ (verse 4). Then the grace of restoration came upon him.
The collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in Korea a few years ago shocked the world. At that time, lawyer Jeong Gwang-jin's story has left a lasting impression. His wife and three daughters went to Sampoong Department Store and died at once. In a truly unbelievable and terrifying situation, he collapsed from exhaustion and said: “I lost everything.”
However, he later started to recover from 700 million won in compensation, 300 million won in private property, and 1.3 billion won in fundraising. The money was donated to the school for the blind where my eldest daughter attended as a scholarship fund. And we are nurturing a lot of talented people. He is no longer the protagonist of tragedy, but the one who shares love and hope. No matter how in the stomach of a fish, if you say you want to do it again, you can do it again.
Are your marital or family relationships difficult? Look again and start over. Did school life get difficult? Start over from the beginning. Has your life of faith become difficult? Look again and start over. God restores those who have faith to start again today.
4. Giving up was the way of recovery.
Jonah says: “Salvation comes from the Lord” (verse 9), which means that he has no power, so he entrusts everything to the God of salvation. Of course, it wasn't because Jonah wanted to entrust it. I entrusted it because it was a situation where I had no choice but to entrust it. Because he was driven into a corner, he relied on God. But when he did so, God allowed Jonah to come out of the whale's belly.
It was a time when the Allied and German forces were fighting fiercely. Newton Baker, former Secretary of Defense of the United States, visited a French field hospital. Baker saw a soldier with both arms amputated and two legs amputated in the field hospital, lying in bed like a pumpkin. Baker was so stunned that nothing came out. In such a situation, there were no words of consolation. He was in tears. And I put a Bible on his stomach and left the hospital room.
Shortly thereafter, he resigned as secretary of defense and became president of Johns Hopkins University in the United States. And after a while there was the graduation ceremony of that university. Baker stepped up to present the Chairman's Award at the graduation ceremony. Then he was terribly surprised. The pumpkin-shaped soldier was getting his doctorate. Next to him was a married woman holding a handkerchief.
With his limbs amputated, he became a doctor and said: “The Bible that was given to me at that time gave me hope. I met Jesus while reading the Bible. He restored the dream. The pain is not the end. It is a command from God to do other things.”
Folks, Jesus is the Restoration. Any person who has lost will be restored if they come to Jesus. Those who had their hands and feet cut off and only their bodies were recovered. The prostitute and the publican also recovered. The strength has also been restored. If we look to Jesus, pray, and entrust ourselves in the midst of any hardship or suffering, Jesus will restore our lives. Today, I pray in the name of the Lord that this work of restoration will come upon us.