The Pulpit Commentary — Jonah — Section 56

could dictate I\Sl!Ured and triumphant language like this, but marvellous, miraouloua faith? His deliverance is not yet come; yet faith speaks of it as if it were, 0 noble fniLh I it is in thy power to bring in the deliverance that is still future, with tbo ~we~t-nesA of that which is already present, and the sureness of that which is already )'Rst" (Rev. Hugh Martin, D.D.). This quality of Jonah's faith appeared also in that of Paul. Crying for deliverance from indwelling sin, be forestalls the event, and prepays the thanks (Rom. vii. 24, 26). So surely is prayer answered, so infallibly does needed help accrue, tha.t from a.n ad<"quate faith the gratitude may go up when as yet the blessing has not come down. And there is this prophetic realizing power in all faith, It "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It carries in its bead the jewel of hope; and where the one reaches the other shines. Faith trusts God that he ca.n do all things, and hope looks for the doi.nit of them. The potential deliverance seen by faith becomes actual deliverance in the eye of hope. And so to the believing soul "the things that shall be" already a.re, and the present is bright with the borrowed light of not yet risen suns. III. lT IS JUST IN Tlm MOMENT OF REALIZED HELPLESSNESS THAT TUB THOUGHT OP Gon co»&s TO A SOUL, (Ver. 7.) Jonah, as is evident) had up till now forgotten God. Not only so, but he had deliberately driven and persistently kept him out of bis thoughts. The bursting of a fearful storm impressed him so little that, if left alone, be would have slept it through. The rude piety of the sailors, calling every man upon his god, sent no responsive thrill through him. The captain's reproachful summons to arise and pray was disregarded or ignored, Even the ominous lot-casting, on the issue of which his life hung, was watched with apparent calm. His self-poasesaed and iron obstinacy died hard. But it died. Angry Omnipotence will not be denied; and God took measures that not even Jonah's hardihood could survive. The prophet broke down. Flesh and heart failed together. And theu be came back to first principles, and remembered God. God, if they knew it, is the one need of human hearts. •• Every finite spirit is inherently related to the Infinite, in him to live, and move, and have it.a being, It wants the knowledge of God, the society of God, the approbation of God, the internal manifestation of God, a consciousness lighted up by his presence, to receive of bis fulness, to be strong in his might, to rest in his love, and be centred everlastingly in bis glory" (Horace Bushnell, D.D.). But the naiural man has no idea of this. Con- scious of incompleteness, he knows not in what it consists. And he preaoribea at random for his own case. He absorbs himself in business, he struggles up the path of ambition, he plunges into mad indulgence, he rW1S breathless from sensation to sensation, seeking rest and satisfaction., and finding none. Everything geta stale and tiresome, and the soul finds itself unprovided for and orphan still, Not seldom the man ~nds his days tbus in feverish search of good, and dies unsatisfied and unfed at last. But sometimes, in the providence of God, disaster comes at this stage. He is losing his idol. He is being robbed of all he loved, or abandoned of all he truated in. He is being brought to the grave'• mouth by a resistless Providence. It becomes with him a question of God's help or none. And sbut up to it thus, he choose& it, albeit only as a last resource. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord" (Ps. c:z:vi. 3, 4), This is the natural history of the aoul'a resort to God. H is the last resort. All other help has been tried and found wanting before the sinner turns to him. What grace, that he waits till then I that while every coaceivable earthly nostrum is being tried, the Balm of Gilead is kept in store, and is available in the extremest hour I Truly a God "long-sufi'ering and slow to wrath, and plenteous bi mercy," is our God, who wearies not at our loog wandering, and welcomes even the latest return. IV. To SIGBT OF GOD AND 'l'BE BIGHT OP SIN IJJVOLVB EAOH OTHEiio (Ver. 8.) Jonah had lost sight of God and of his own guilr,,iness together. In his conduct up to this point we see the most astounding oblivion of both. .And now the two matten come to mind together, suggesting a logical connection between them. And so there is. Sin is a conscious offence against God. Its antagonism to him is ita essential element. Accordingly, the sense of it will come and go with the thought of God, and will be adequate as this is adequate. You cannot remember tho offence and yot forget the offended Being. Neither can you realize God aa near and cognizant without a COD• BCioµsne6s of your moral at~tude toward, him. 'l'he thoughi 9f 11tn 1111d ~e thou~ht gf  on. 11. 1-10.] 'rHE BOOK OF JONAIJ. &'3