Disobedience Causes Storms

In the story of Jonah, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim judgement against it. Jonah said “no” and ran. As the account goes, Jonah bought a ticket for a sailing ship and hid in the deepest, darkest, lowest part of the ship—almost as if to say, “God will never find me here.” But God, Creator of the Universe, knew exactly where Jonah was and, completely unmoved by Jonah’s defiance, sent a storm and rocked the boat.

I guess the storm that rocked the boat was pretty bad and the sailors were pretty scared. Jonah ended up confessing and saying, “Hey guys, it’s my fault. I ran from the Presence of the Lord.” Panicked, they begged him, “What do we do now?” I can almost see Jonah’s face at this point, a picture of defeat, as he sighs and says, “Throw me into the sea.” (And for the record, he does actually say those exact words.) Can you imagine that moment? Sailors, jaws dropped, with a look that exclaims, “Say what?!”

They didn’t want to follow through with it, but nevertheless, at some point, they realized they had no choice. So over the bow he went. And as soon as Jonah was jettisoned from the boat, calm returned to the sea, the sailors and the ship. Of course, this is not the end of the story, but this part of the story does beg some introspective questions like…What is it in our lives that God has instructed us to do that we are not doing?

I would venture to say that most of us DO have something that we know that the Lord would have us do, but we are…too afraid, too shy, to ashamed, to weak, too defiant, too prideful, too unforgiving, too…you fill in the blank. What is it that we are “running” from in our walk with Christ? Is our disobedience in some area causing a storm inside of us or even a storm around us, effecting and affecting those nearby? Maybe it is time to jettison some things from our lives—guilt, pain, fear, anger, lust, backbiting, criticism… Or perhaps, like Jonah, we must even jettison ourselves—our will, our flesh, our plans, our agenda…

Today, let’s stop and take some time to read the book of Jonah. As we read, let’s ask God to reveal to us areas of disobedience and places where things must be jettisoned from our lives. Let’s repent, get rid of, and follow through with obedience.