Session 3: Our Providing God (1:17)

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, even though you know all our needs before we ask you, we nevertheless bring our petitions before you so that you will lead us to realize this and that with thanksgiving we might receive your gifts of daily bread and daily mercies. As we study your provisions for Jonah, help us also to recognize all that you provide for us on a daily basis so that we might call out to you in praise in every circumstance. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Synopsis of Theme

Though we, like Jonah, are stubborn and undeserving of God’s goodness, he nevertheless provides for all of our needs, in both body and soul.

Topic for Sharing/Ice Breaker

Have you ever had an experience that seemed at first to be a crisis but actually turned out to be a blessing? Would you like to explain it?

Questions: Text

Yahweh’s activity of provision is evident throughout the narrative of Jonah. Read the following texts and describe what he is providing, and why he provides it.

1:17

  • v Yahweh provides a great fish that saves Jonah from drowning and punishment in Sheol. It is meant to return him to life, communion in worship (2:4, 7–9), and allow him to reassume the commission he had previously abandoned (cf. 1:1–3; 3:1–3).

    • 4:6

  • v Yahweh God provides a plant to ease Jonah’s discomfort and to save the prophet from his great evil of resenting the salvation of the Gentiles (cf. 4:10–11).
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    4:7–8

  • v God provides both a worm and scorching east wind, which are acts of judgment and meant to call Jonah to repentance and faith. Thus, God’s judgment is not an end in itself but is intended for salvation.
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    Note the contrast between the obedience of animals (the great fish and the worm), the plant, and the wind with the disobedience of Jonah. This is a theme in other Old Testament texts. Read the following passages and describe the contrast between the obedience of people and the rest of creation.

    Isaiah 1:3

  • v Domestic animals know their owner, but Israel does not know her Maker.
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    Num 22:22–31

  • v An ass recognizes and obeys Yahweh’s Word even when the prophet Balaam did not.
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    Is 44:23; 49:13; 55:12

    All creation praises God when he comforts his people. With animals, rivers, lakes, and oceans we are invited to “join in the hymn of all creation!”

    Why is it significant that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for “three days and three nights”?

  • v In some Old Testament texts, the goal of a three-day’s journey was the worship of Yahweh (cf. Gen 22:4–5; Ex 3:18; 5:3; 8:27). Additionally, “three days and three nights” is the amount of time it takes the great fish to bring Jonah back from Sheol and the brink of death (2:2, 6) to life and the worship of God (2:7–9).

    v Moreover, Christ’s resurrection was on the third day (Mt 16:21; Mk 8:31; Lk 9:22; 24:7; cf. also Lk 24:46 and 1 Cor 15:4). Thus, Jonah’s three-day and three-night excursion in the belly of the great fish is a type of our Lord’s journey from being abandoned by his Father (Mt 27:46) to the joy of resurrection (cf. Mt 12:39–41, where Jesus refers to the “sign of Jonah”.)

    • Questions: Discussion/Application

    How has God provided for your physical needs?

  • v Answers will vary; see Luther’s explanation to the First Article of the Creed and the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
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    How has God provided for your spiritual needs?

  • v Answers will vary; see Rom 10:9–10, Phil 4:19.

    • Closing Prayer

    Loving Father, you have created all things for our good and your glory. Though we often fail to carry out your purposes for us, we pray that you would continue to provide for our needs and restore us to yourself. And as you deal so mercifully with us, may we extend that same mercy to those around us, that our lives might be a reflection of your great love that has no limits. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

    Assignment

    Read Jonah 2:1–10

    Ask yourself:

    1) How do times of distress affect my prayer life?

    2) How fervent am I in prayer when life is going well?

  • 3) How does distress reorient my thinking concerning God?

    4) Is the power of prayer found in my sincerity, my persistence, or God’s grace?

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