Many of you are familiar with the story of Jonah. I say Jonah, you say “big fish” or ‘whale”. It’s a great story and it’s one I want to reflect on with you today, as we go into this week of Thanksgiving. 

So here’s the background to the story of Jonah. In 2 Kings 14 we read of King Jeroboam of Israel, who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. However, he did one redeeming thing, in verse 25 we read, King Jeroboam restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet.

Jonah, helped the king of Israel, with words, directed from God to secure Israel. That’s what a prophet does, they speak to others with the word of God.

But now the word of God was challenging Jonah to do something with that gift of speaking on behalf of God to others, at the beginning of Jonah’s book we read how God says to Jonah, ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’ Jonah 1:2  You probably recall that Jonah didn’t want to go, that’s how he ends up in the giant fish,  but I want to make it clear as to why he didn’t want to go. You see the people of Nineveh, which by the way is modern day Iraq, was where the Assyrians were, as Nineveh was the Assyrian capital. And the Assyrians certainly were not religious people, at least of our faith. In fact they were brutal in their ambition for land and power. According to ancient writings, the military were quite ruthless bringing absolute terror. In an Assyrian War Bulletin written around 1000 BCE, one soldier wrote about what he did as he worked to expand the Assyrian reign. He wrote, “I destroyed, I demolished, I burned."  Now, this type of violence was known about these people, so we can honestly see why Jonah would not want to go speak to these people, right? It’s as if God would call you or I to go to confront a group of terrorists. It really is. Jonah feared for his life, as would you and I.

As the story continues we know that Jonah found a ship going to Tarshish. Now Nineveh was 500 miles east of Jonah’s hometown of Joppa, while Tarshish, was 2,500 miles west. Jonah was obviously trying to put as much distance as he could between himself and the Assyrians of Nineveh. But he was also putting distance between him and God. In fact in Jonah 1: 3 we read, “But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”

However, we can’t flee from the presence of the Lord, no matter how hard we may try. It’s like the Psalmist who says in Psalm 139: ⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?  Or where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there” God always knows where we are, God is always present, even with Jonah as he tries to run away from God.

  The story continues that a storm developed, and it was a relentless storm. The crew start crying out to their various gods to save them, but Jonah knew it was his God that could help, so he says in verse 12 of chapter 1: Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quieten down for you’  Jonah was willing to give of himself to help the crew, right? Well that’s one way to look at it, but if he was trying to run away from God, not happy with his life, it also meant, he was giving up on his life. Not God. In verse 17 we read, 17 But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

After that time, Jonah lifts up this prayer from the belly of the fish. Here the words again in a different translation: “In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God. He answered me. From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’ You heard my cry. You threw me into ocean’s depths, into a watery grave, With ocean waves, ocean breakers crashing over me.

I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away, thrown out, out of your sight. I’ll never again lay eyes on your Holy Temple.’ Ocean gripped me by the throat.  The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.

My head was all tangled in seaweed at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.
I was as far down as a body can go, and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever—

Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive, O God, my God! When my life was slipping away, I remembered God, And my prayer got through to you, made it all the way to your Holy Temple.

Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love.
But I’m worshiping you, God, calling out in thanksgiving!And I’ll do what I promised I’d do! Salvation belongs to God!”

Jonah, in the belly of a giant fish, has a change of heart, a new understanding of who is God, the God who sees us in the deepest darkest areas. The God who is with us in those areas, the only God who can and is willing to be with us in those areas, because as Jonah said, our God is our “only true love”.

As we prepare for the national holiday of Thanksgiving, we can’t help but be touched, and amazed, that while you and I will be giving Thanks with lots of food, in a warm dry place, surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones, Jonah gave thanks in the belly of a giant fish, surrounded by fish guts, a bad smell, darkness, and let’s face it, fear.Yet he gives thanks to the God who acts to save him, to deliver him. And it brings out something you and I come to learn with time, experience, and age, and that is: the most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when troubles abound.

When a loved one is sick, but they have a good day, we are thankful.

When a bill is due, and we can pay it, though we’re not sure how, we are thankful.

When we don’t have food and it is given to us by the generosity of others, we are thankful.

It was certainly the same with the Pilgrims and the Indigenous people on that first Thanksgiving.

Both groups had suffered through environmental changes neither party could expect or be prepared for.

In fact both these people went through devastation and death, but they had come to some peace with one another and in that peace, they feasted together, thanking God for seeing them through their times of trial.

It was that same sense of gratitude that led Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first Thanksgiving Day in 1863, in the midst of national civil war, when the list of casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for survival. On Oct 3, 1863 he made this statement, proclaiming the new holiday. We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. And so he declared the 4^th Thursday of November as a national holiday of Thanksgiving.

  The truth of the matter is, if we do not learn to be thankful in the midst of our difficulties, we will become discouraged.  And in our discouragement, like Lincoln said, we will forget God, we will lose sight of our faith, and open ourselves to the forces that lead us downward towards anger, resentment, hopelessness, and doubt. Jonah realized that if God was willing to save him, deliver him, Jonah had to give thanks, as should we, despite the hopelessness and doubt that surrounds us too, because God is at work, to deliver us, deliver us from the storms of life, deliver us from evil, deliver us from the depths of our difficulties.

Finishing up with Jonah and the Ninevites. If you recall, once Jonah is spewed out by the big fish, he goes to Tarshish and tells the people to repent, and they do. Because they do, God delivered them as well and in their deliverance they gave thanks.  In fact , fast forward a 1,000 years and it is known that the Assyrians were some of the first converts by the earlier church and they became a thriving Christian community sending missionaries throughout the eastern world. Today there is still an Assyrian Church with an amazing history and communities throughout the world who trust in God’s deliverance and who give thanks to God for the Divine true love.

Friends, I hope you are able to enjoy Thanksgiving. I really do. And I hope that it is a day to give thanks, to where thanks is rightly due. Thanksgiving is not about thanking the Pilgrims and the Indigenous people, nor even President Lincoln for this holiday, but it is doing what they did, as well as Jonah, giving thanks to our God, who continually abides with us and delivers us, from the depths of our troubles.

Let us pray: Gracious God, as the nation prepares to take time to celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving, may you accept this prayer that celebrates all that you give and all that we receive.  Lord we thank you for the gift of life and for the promise of your faithfulness each day. Thank you for the satisfaction of our work and harvest as well as the grace of our leisure and rest. Thank you for the security of your peace, and for the blessing of fellowship in this church. Too often we receive your kindness and abundance, only to bottle it up inside, keeping it to ourselves. Today make us channels of your goodness, guide us and teach us to share, so that all people may know and experience a grateful and thankful season in your name. We ask all this through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray saying…Our Father...