Don't Doubt What You Didn't Do, Your Salvation

Jonah 2:8–9 (ESV) Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

Before we leave Jonah's ordeal in the belly of the great fish, we should look at these last lines to understand the power of God's salvation. He first confesses, "those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope." An idol is anything that takes our hearts away from God. They can be things, people, places, or even our own emotional needs. What idol may Jonah be renouncing in his own life at this point? Perhaps it was the idol of ethnocentrism. The sense that those evil Ninevites did not deserve the grace of God when his own nation was playing the fool with the preface to those same sins! Maybe it was the idol that God was wrong, and he was right. Perhaps it was the idol of self-love, the source of almost every other sin. Whatever the case, Jonah acknowledges that these idols rob us of hope. 

Another essential question to ask about verses 8-9 is this: What did Jonah vow to pay the Lord? And how is that related to his resolve that salvation belongs to the Lord? 

We can surmise he made a vow to repay God for sparing his life when he least deserved it, along the way in this 72-hour captivity. We don't have the entire record of those days, but we can assume quite confidently that when Jonah faced impending death, the fight or flight instinct kicked in, and he vowed something to the Lord should his life be spared. 

As the Psalmist confessed:

Psalm 66:13–14 (ESV) I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you, 14 that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

 

Let's get something clear. The vow was not a deal with God, as if to impose on the Lord some obligation to save. No, it was common practice among Israelites to make vows to underscore the seriousness of their prayers. Jonah flippantly thought he might ignore God's Word, and when it became apparent he could not, it led him to a severity of devotion that the prophet had forsaken in turning to his own idolatrous thoughts. 

And how does Jonah resolve this prayer? By announcing, "Salvation belongs to the Lord." What does that mean? It first means precisely what it says: only God can save. It's not our works, but His. Secondly, it can also mean that salvation is what God delights to do. And this has already been proven in the book by God's appeal for the prophet to preach to his enemies who do not worship Him yet. It has also been evident in the saving of the sailors on the boat from which Jonah was tossed. Along the path of reluctant self-serving Jonah's rebellion are drippings of God's grace for undeserving sinners and the book will end with a national revival from a pagan people. 

Do you doubt YOUR salvation? Give up. It is not yours to begin with. You didn't make it happen and you cannot keep it happening. Salvation is God's work, not ours. 

Notably, the chapter ends with Jonah's own salvation from his own stubborn rebellion. God provides the fish and then provides it's indigestion. 

Jonah 2:10 (ESV) And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.