But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break
up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled
the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah
had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise,
call out to your God! perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may
not perish.” Jonah 1:4-6
Jonah thought he could run away
from God’s purpose to preach to the Ninevites so instead of going 850 miles to
the eastern bank of the Tigris River to their city, he is fast heading the
opposite direction to the farthest city called Tarshish. He hops on a ship and
pays his fare (Jonah 1:3). All this just to get away from God’s presence (I can
imagine him pumping Bobby Brown’s “I Gotta Get Away”, I’m dating myself
already). He is about to find out how serious Jehovah is with His purpose to
save all humanity from the curse of sin, death, and sickness.
Jehovah decides He is going to
do some wind hurling on this runaway ship and creates a perfect storm. So scary
is this storm that each of these hardened sailors – not known for their
religious propensities – starts to cry out to his god.
Think four-letter word vocabularies bursting forth in rapid prayer to whatever
gods they could recall in such a storm. Just think, don’t say. Then the prayers
don’t seem to be working because this ship is on the verge of breaking up. That’s
when they decide to do their own hurling of the precious cargo overboard.
Still, the storm does not seem to be abating and the captain, probably wracking
his brains about what else to throw overboard, finds Man of God Jonah sleeping
like a baby below deck. In alarm and a very ironic reversal of roles, the sailor
admonishes the prophet for not praying to his god in such a calamitous
situation.
My point: when you actively
refuse and run away from God’s purpose for your life, you set yourself up for
God’s disaster because His presence is inescapable. You can’t run from God. Just
like Jonah, He will foil your “initiatives” until you fail. Sometimes your
failures are not because Satan is attacking you or your enemies, however you
conceive of them, are out to get you; no, it’s because God is stopping you and very
intent on your not succeeding in your disobedience. You may do the Esther Fast
thing (three days without food or water) or the Jesus Anointing (forty days dry fast) but
it ain’t working, baby, because you just made the One who makes things work mad
at you.
Secondly, Jonahs are liabilities
to their fellow passengers. All the cargo gets wasted in trying to keep the
ship afloat. Jonahs are kind of expensive to hang around because helping Jonahs
is like trying to stop God from disciplining them. We all know who wins in the
end, right? So you may want to help a Jonah from a far by shouting to them that
it’s time they started obeying God. Trust me, you don’t want to be in the same
boat with them. Plus, Jonahs are just not sensitive to the chaos they are
causing. While you are busy praying yourself hoarse for God to change things
for them, Jonahs are peacefully sleeping downstairs.
Finally, when it is obvious to
everyone, even four-letter word spewing sailors, that this is a situation that
requires God’s intervention, the backslidden Jonah has no desire at all to call
on God. Disobedience always leads one further away from God and desensitizes
one to the spiritual realm. Sad.
You don't have to be a Jonah.
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