The Book of Jonah 1:1-17.
1 The
word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2“Go to the great city of
Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up
before me.”
3 But
Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa,
where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went
aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
4 Then
the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the
ship threatened to break up. 5All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to
his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down
and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you
sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we
will not perish.”
7 Then the
sailors said to each other, “Come, and let us cast lots to find out who is
responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they
asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us?
What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From
what people are you?”
9 He
answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made
the sea and the dry land.”
10 This
terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running
away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea
was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you
to make the sea calm down for us?”
12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he
replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great
storm has come upon you.”
13 Instead,
the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea
grew even wilder than before. 14 Then
they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this
man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you,
Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then
they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At
this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord
and made vows to him.
17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah,
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
JONAH WAS IN A STORM
(Jonah 1:1-11).
The
Lord asked Jonah going to Nineveh to preach against it, but Jonah run away from
the Lord and headed for Tarshish. "The Lord sent a great wind on the
sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up"
(Jonah 1:4)[1].
This
meant that God sent a great wind to the ship which charged Jonah. The wind
obeyed the Lord, it came to the ship and became a violent storm. Speaking of obeying
the Lord, we can learn that everything in nature obeys the Lord, except man and
angel. In the Genesis, the Lord said, "Let the land
produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit
with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so." (Genesis 1:11). When the Lord wished, "that evening quail came and
covered the camp" (Exodus 16:13) the Israelites got them for their
food. When Jesus wished fish going into the net, Peter and his friends, "were
unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish." (John 21:6 ). When Jesus was in a boat, there was a furious squall came up, and
the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. The disciples
woke Him up, He said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" (Mark
4:39), the win died down and it was completely calm. And in the future, the
fire will obey the Lord to destroy the earth on
"the day of judgment and destruction of the
ungodly." (2 Peter 3:7). The Lord is the Creator, He is the
almighty God, He has the power to order everything which has to obey Him.
As we
have seen that trees, seeds, waves,
wind, fish, birds… all obey the Lord, but it is regret that man many
times not obey the Lord. The word of God taught man that, "you
must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:17), but Adam and Eve ate. The Bible says that, "Be
kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ
God forgave you." (Ephesians 4:32). But many people are very wicked
to others. And many people often get angry to other and do not forgive for each
other.
There
is a joking story. A boy chases his younger brother to hit him. His mom tries
to stop him and says, "Forgive your younger brother, son." He says,
"No." His mom says: "You do not forgive your brother, if tonight Jesus come back in His second
coming, how can you answer to the Lord?" The boy says, "This is Ok, I
forgive him. But if tonight Jesus not comes, tomorrow I will give him a strong
punch!"
Man
is not perfect, but we thank God that He has not destroyed us, on the contrary,
He loves us. He "demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). Through the death
of Jesus, when a sinner believes in Him, he was forgiven and can be reconciled "to
God." (Ephesians 2:16).
In
His love, sometime the Lord rebukes us, then He gently says that, “For
a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you
back." (Isaiah 54:7). Thank God for His abounding
in love. Even we are not deserved, but He does not forsake us. How great His
compassion is for us! Each of us should thank Him and pray Him help us to have
a better life to please Him.
Dear
believers, when Jonah fell into a deep sleep
in the below deck of the ship, God sent a storm to the ship. What for is this?
Through this storm God wished say to Jonah that, "Jonah, I send you to
Nineveh, but you go to Tarshish. This is against my will. Come back!" When
God told to Jonah that, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against
it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” There was not a storm.
Why now He wanted to call Jonah go back, He said through a storm? Because Jonah
did not obey the gentle voice, so God sent him a storm voice.
Dear
brothers and sisters, let us obey the
gentle voice of the Holy Spirit though the Bible. If we do not obey, probably
the Lord will send some storm to our life to teach us. Which way do we like?
The way we listen to the voice of the Lord is much better for us.
Bible
continues that, "a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm
arose that the ship threatened to break up." (v.4).
This verse told us that on the sea there was a terrible storm. Unless Jonah was
sleeping, all others were very terrified! They said themselves,
People
on the ship say "if the waves freely lapped against the ship, it were
broken, what thing would happen for us?"
Let
us think: When God sent a storm to the ship, did He let the storm work freely
or He still concerned to the ship?
Please
think of the words "threatened to break up
". Threatened to break up but not break up! Why did the ship not
break up? Because the wind was not strong enough to break the ship. Maybe
people on the ship said that, "we are lucky, if the wind was stronger a
little bit, the ship was broken and we all died. But they did not know that God
decided the limit of the storm. The storm only had its power to threat to break
up the boat, not allowed to break up the boat. He knew clearly the strength of
timbers of the ship. The book of Job teaches us knowing that our God is the
Mighty God. Even the sea is strong, the waves are high, but the Lord has
authority to give them a limit… that, "This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt!" (Job 38:11). The waves, the
sea must obey Him.
Not
excepting, Satan was allowed to bother Job, but God decided a limit "you must spare his life" (Job 2:6), Satan had to obey God.
Dear
brothers and sisters, living on the earth, may times we are facing with difficult
situations, we are panic and think that we are totally hopeless! Do not be like
this, let us believe the word teaching us, "Cast all your anxiety on him because
he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7). We belong to Christ, He "had
loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." (John
13:1).
All
the sailors and the captain were very terrified the storm. They said to each
other that, “Come, and let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this
calamity. They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah."
(Jonah 1:7). Jonah had sin against the Lord, he hid
everyone. However, now all people knew. Because God revealed for all people
knowing that Jonah is "responsible for this calamity." Jonah could
not hide his sin anymore.
Studying
this story, we should be afraid the
Almighty God. Because He can fulfil His teaching that, "There is nothing concealed
that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known."
(Luke 12:2). So let us pray God help us to be careful, not to do the bad
things, avoid to sin against God, because soon or late, what we have done will
display, we will not be able to hide them as Jonah. There is the key to avoid
to do bad thing is, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the
glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31).
To
everyone on board, the storm was a natural calamity, but to Jonah was not only
a natural calamity but also a disastrous storm. The lot fell on Jonah. The lot
exposed that Jonah was the source that made the ship in the danger. Jonah was a
son of God. Did God love him? If yes, why did God let him in an impasse? Now
was it better for Jonah to forsake God or to continue to worship Him?
The
Bible teaches that, "the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he
chastens everyone he accepts as his son."
(Hebrews 12:6). Now there are two things:
1.
The Lord said, "Jonah is my son, I asks him going to Nineveh, Jonah runs
away from me and heads for Tarshish. Let him do what he wishes, I do not
care." or
2.
The Lord says, "Jonah is my son, I asks him going to Nineveh, Jonah runs
away from me and heads for Tarshish. I love Jonah, I do not want Jonah
going astray. I send a storm to draw
him back to my loving arms."
Two
above ways, which way is blessed for Jonah?
Dear
believers, the Lord always wants to train us growing up in the faith of Christ.
When facing with any situations, by the grace of God, we can stand firm in
Christ. Therefore, in our life, if we have any tribulation, we pray God that
what lesson we can learn? Please remember that, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on,
however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have
been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11).
And,
"Endure
hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children
are not disciplined by their father?" (Hebrews 12:7). By the
discipline of God, Jonah is blessed. So even in any situation, may God help
each of us stand firm in Him, we still are children of God, belonged to Him. Do
not forget that God loves you always.
May
God bless each of us. Amen.
Rev
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