Assurance of salvation (Jonah 2:9)

 Assurance of salvation

 

 

"... Salvation is from the LORD "(Jonah 2:9).

 

 

                Do you have assurance of salvation?  When we think about ‘assurance of salvation’, we tend to think about our conviction that we will go to heaven after we die.  Of course, this conviction is based on believing in Jesus Christ.  In other words, the basis of our assurance of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for forgiveness of our sins and the resurrected from the dead for our righteousness (Rom. 4:25).  Besides the conviction of this salvation, another assurance or deliverance of salvation that we must have is the assurance that God will save (or deliver) us from the circumstances of our sufferings.  We desperately need assurance of salvation (deliverance) that even it is impossible for us to be saved in human perspective, Almighty God is able to deliver us even under the impossible circumstances.  And our faith and trust toward the God of salvation should not be changed even though God’s salvation (deliverance) is not according to our expectation.  The reason is that our God is God who does not change.  In other words, because our God is the unchanging God of salvation, we should not doubt the God of salvation even though he saves us unexpected way.  Rather, we must confess by faith that “Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9) even in the situation where God saves us unexpected way.

 

                The unexpected salvation experienced by Jonah was the stomach of the great fish (Jonah 1:17-2:1).  After God made Jonah to confess his sin through a lot of the sailors (1:7-10), God made Jonah to be thrown into the sea by the sailors (vv. 11-12).  Therefore, not only did God save the sailors from the stormy sea (v. 15), but also saved Jonah by providing the great fish and made the great fish to swallow Jonah (v. 17).  Was Jonah expecting this salvation from God?  If I were Jonah I would probably expected God to deliver me through a passing ship when I was thrown into the sea.  In particular, I would expect God to save me through the ship that was heading toward Tarshish where I want to go and not Nineveh.  And if the sailors of the ship that was heading toward Tarshish see me and deliver me from the sea, then I will rationalize my own disobedience by saying that it is the grace of God's salvation through those sailors and also that it may be God's will for me to go to Tarshish instead of Nineveh.  However, Creator God didn’t use a passing ship to save Jonah, but he used the great fish.  And God made the great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the great fish for three days and three nights (v. 17).  This was the situation of salvation that Jonah couldn’t have expected.  Why did God give this unexpected salvation to Jonah?  Why did God use the great fish instead of a great ship to save Jonah?  Imagine living three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish.  If we were Jonah, could we give thanks to God for the great fish and the face that we are in its stomach?  Can we accept it as God's salvation?  Surprisingly, Jonah offered the prayer of thanksgiving to God in the stomach of the great fish (2:1).  How could Jonah give thanks to God in such unexpected situations of salvation?  It was because Jonah realized the grace of God that He had given to Him in the stomach of the great fish (v. 8).  And Jonah did not abandon that grace of God (v. 8).  Jonah acknowledged his sins to God, and humbly accepted that grace of God.  In the midst of that, Jonah sought God.  He cried out to God in his sufferings (v. 2).  In the unexpected situation of salvation, in the stomach f the great fish, God made Jonah to be thankful to God and made him pray to God.  God made Jonah to look only toward God of salvation in the hope of salvation when he was in the stomach of the great fish by making him totally incompetent and despair (v. 4).  And God made Jonah to confess in the stomach of the great fish, "Salvation is from the Lord" (v. 9).

 

What is the situation of salvation that we expect from God?  What is the painful situation we are facing now?  Aren’t you looking for God's will in that painful situation?  Aren’t you throwing the question "why" and "what" many times?: 'Why did God lead me to this situation?', 'Why doesn’t God save me from this painful situation even though I prayed and expected him to answer?', 'What is God's will?'  Have you ever come to a situation where you did not expect God to answer your prayer like that?  Do you feel like you are in the stomach of the great fish?  Have you ever been in despair because there is no hope of being delivered from your situation?  That is the situation of salvation that God has given you.  In such a situation God makes you to offer a prayer of thanksgiving.  And in that situation, God wants you to remember the past salvation graces that God has given you.  In such a desperate situation, God wants you to desire and seek the God of salvation.  God wants you to have assurance of salvation as you look at the God of salvation even in such unexpected situation.  And in the context of such unexpected salvation, God expects you to truly confess, "Salvation is from the LORD."  In doing so, God will save you from the unexpected situation of salvation to the expected situation like Jonah who was delivered to the dry land from the stomach of the great fish.  And God will give us a second chance to fulfill God’s given mission to us.  I hope and pray that we will be able to deeply experience this wonderful God's salvation and providence of God today.