God Wants You On His Mission:
When You’re in the Pit, Call Out to God
Jonah 1:17–2:2
Sometimes life doesn’t go the way we planned.
We make our plans, do our research, and think we’ve found the right path—only to discover that the “perfect” plan has problems we never saw coming.
That’s what happened to Kyle and Kayla. A travel trailer they thought would become an exciting new adventure turned out to have serious problems. The vehicle they bought to tow it couldn’t handle the trailer. They had no place to live and no clear idea what to do next.
They felt stuck.
So they prayed.
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, someone they hadn’t spoken to in years reached out after seeing their prayer request. They offered them a home to live in for six months! This was a surprise that was completely free.
God provided in a way they never could have planned.
Their story gives us a picture of what we see happening in Jonah.
Jonah had run from God. He found himself in the middle of a storm, thrown into the sea, and eventually swallowed by a great fish.
And then we read:
“Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish.”
Jonah 2:1
Jonah was in a pit he could not escape on his own.
But God was there.
God Hears Us in the Pit
Jonah couldn’t work his way out. He couldn’t swim his way out. He couldn’t fix his circumstances.
So he called out to God.
And that is one of the great encouragements of Jonah: there is no place we can go where God cannot hear us.
Maybe your “pit” looks different.
It might be fear, failure, sickness, disappointment, addiction, loneliness, financial pressure, a broken relationship, or simply a season of waiting that seems to have no end.
You may not know how God is going to rescue you.
But you can call out to Him.
You don't have to wait until everything is fixed. You don't have to get yourself out of the pit before you pray. You can cry out to God right in the middle of it.
God Doesn't Waste the Pit
The fish wasn't the end of Jonah's story.
God was using that difficult place to turn Jonah's heart back toward Him.
The same God who pursued Jonah in his rebellion was still pursuing him in his distress.
And Jonah's story ultimately points us to Jesus.
Jesus Himself used Jonah's three days in the fish as a picture of what was to come. Jonah went into the depths and was brought out. Jesus went into death and rose again on the third day.
Friday wasn't the end. Sunday was coming.
And because of Jesus, our greatest hope isn't simply that God will make every difficult circumstance disappear. Our hope is that Jesus has already defeated sin and death and that He will never leave us.
So What Do We Do?
Call out to God.
Don't wait until tomorrow.
Don't wait until you have everything figured out.
Don't wait until you are out of the fish.
Call out to Him today.
And then ask another question:
“God, what are You inviting me to join You in?”
God didn't need Jonah. He chose Jonah.
And God doesn't need us, but He invites us to join His mission because He wants to transform us as we follow Him.
Whatever God has already asked you to do, take the next step of obedience.
Coach Kyle invited us to read Jonah this week. It’s a great book of the Bible to learn how to study the Bible. Pay attention to the names, places, repeated words, patterns, and connections to the rest of Scripture.
Most importantly, look for Jesus. Saturday, we talked about “3 Days Later” and how “Sunday is coming.”
Even in the belly of the fish, God was at work.
Even in your pit, God is not finished with your story.
We hope you enjoy the ‘ohana group discussion questions this week, and the sermon is online if you’d like to listen or share with a friend.
Thanks again Coach Kyle Power for your great work with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and thanks for coming to preach the Word for us this past weekend! Thanks for the way you model 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 as an ambassador for God
