SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/07/2025 10:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “An Honest Confession”
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 2:3-4
Message of the verses: “For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current surrounded me. All Your breakers and waves passed over me. So I said, ‘I have been driven away from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your temple.”
In looking at Jonah’s dire situation, we see that Jonah acknowledged not only the physical consequences of his sin but also its spiritual ramifications, as he says “I said, ‘I have been driven away from Your sight.” Now the verb driven away is elsewhere associated with God’s hand of punishment, as the Lord drove Adam and his wife Eve from the garden as seen in Genesis 3:24, also Cain from his place of habitation seen in Gen. 4:14, also the Canaanites from the Promised Land, seen in Josh. 24:18, and the Philistines from their cities (Zeph. 2:4), next the unrepentant people of Israel from their homeland as seen in Hosea 9:15. It is with the same forceful power and displeasure, Jonah was driven away from God’s favor. The prophet’s exclamation acknowledged that he was the object of the most severe, and bizarre, chastisement for his sin, something that certainly is true, and something that I would never want to happen to me, as I am not one who likes the water, and certainly not one who would like to end up in the belly of a great fish, even though I am sure that there was plenty of room in this huge fish, something in my opinion is not around anymore. Jonah also understood that his plight was directly from God’s favor. He also understood that his plight was directly from God, exclaiming that he had been driven away. John MacArthur writes “The passive voice of the verb implies that God Himself drove the prophet away from His sight on account of Jonah’s rebellion. That is not to say that God was not present (cf. Jonah 1:3); rather, Jonah was out of God’s benevolent focus (cf. Pss. 26:3; 31:22; 36:2; 101:3). The prophet lamented that he was no longer under God’s gaze of protection and blessing, but that he had forfeited the benefits David described in Psalm 34:15: ‘The eyes of Yahweh are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry for help’ (cf. Ezek. 5:11; Zech. 12:4). So, in the depths of the sea, Jonah turned his thoughts toward God, recognizing the Lord’s chastening hand upon him. It took sinking to the ocean floor, and then being swallowed alive, but Jonah finally grasped the weight of the divine discipline his disobedience had brought upon him.”
Now Jonah knew that he deserved to die, as he thought that when the sailors had thrown him into the sea that he would drown at that time, thus he thought he would be dead, and not swallowed by a very large fish. Having acknowledged honestly the consequences of his sin, Jonah prayed to the Lord in faith, “Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.” Some of the commentators who have written about this have suggested that this may simply mean that Jonah desired to pray in the direction of the temple, something that we know that Daniel always did while he was in Babylon. However, the phrase look again toward indicates that Jonah believed he would see the temple again with his physical eyes (cf. Exodus 3:6; Num. 21:9; 1 Sam. 16:7; Isa. 8:22). Thus, the prophet expressed his hope that he would once again visit the temple in Jerusalem. Having been broken by the hand of God’s discipline, Jonah trusted in the Lord to rescue him. He understood that his sin was monstrous and his situation hopeless; nevertheless, Jonah fixed his hope on Yahweh. Knowing that God is faithful to His own (cf. Matt. 2:20; Heb. 13:5), Jonah placed his trust in the Lord.
John MacArthur concludes his commentary on this section which actually the last commentary we will look at from him in this 3rd chapter of his commentary on Jonah, as Lord willing we will begin looking at the fourth chapter’s commentary from his book on Jonah beginning tomorrow.
“Up to this point in his prayer, Jonah recognized his humble condition (Jonah 2:1), issued a heartfelt cry for mercy (2:2), and honestly confessed the reality that he had put himself at odds with the Lord, for which he was suffering the repercussions (2:3-4). These same attitudes and actions mark the response of every penitent sinner. A prayer of true repentance begins with humility; it cries out to God with heartfelt sincerity; and it honestly assesses the gravity and consequences of sin. But it does not stop there. The truly repentant moves from tears to triumph, finding hope and joy in the Lord and His grace. With that in view, the remaining characteristics of Jonah’s penitent prayer are examined in the next chapter of this volume.”
Spiritual Meaning for my Life today: Learning more about true repentance from the next chapter and what I am learning from the above paragraph is something that I certainly need to know and follow, for living in a sin cursed world there are times, many times I need to truly understand what true repentance is all about.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
10/7/2025 11:03 AM
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