Molding Jonah Part 1

Two Sunday's ago we had a fill-in pastor preaching at my church, it was the first Sunday in three months that I've sat in on a morning service as I have been teaching Children's Church.  It felt so good to be back:)

The message was on Jonah- I may have to do this post in two parts- but I'll try and make it in one:)

Jonah 1:1

The first verse in the book of Jonah says that God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against it and expose their wicked ways.  Now in verse 3 the first word that starts this sentence is: "But" Now if any sentence starts with the word but, be forewarned!! Trouble is looming!

"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."

Now what floors me in this passage is that Jonah really believed he could flee from the Lord!!! Did he truly believe that the Lord wouldn't be in Tarshish as well???

Yet how often do we flee from the Lord when an unwelcome task comes our way, or a ministry opportunity that could open doors- yet we say "I'm too busy to commit to one more thing!"  Whose time are you working on?

Now you must also understand that Jonah is headed to Tarshish- and if you looked at a map you would see that Nineveh and Tarshish are in the complete opposite direction!!

So once Jonah boards the boat he goes down into the hold and falls asleep.  While he is 'sleeping' a great storm begins to rage- greater than any storm anyone had ever seen.

Now it says that Jonah was asleep- let me ask you- if you were in a boat and it was in a violent storm- would you be asleep?  I imagine that Jonah was in a fitful sleep while thinking "I know I'm the reason for this- but I'm not going to listen! It's not me! It's not me! It's not me!!"

Meanwhile on deck all the ship hands are calling out to their gods to save them, they are throwing cargo over the side in an effort to lighten the load.  But the storm is worsening and their boat is threatening to come apart.

So the Captain runs downstairs and finds Jonah- crying out in despair he yells "How can you sleep? Get up  and call on your God!  Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."

Now it's interesting, the pagans are now ready to cry out to any god- they don't care who.  But Jonah remains silent in calling out to his God.  He went up on deck- but never cried out to the Lord.


Jonah is the #1 on his agenda- he didn't care if anyone else died, whether it was the pagans or the Ninevites.

Now at this time there was nothing else the sailors could do to keep their boat afloat, so they decided to cast lots and find out who was responsible for their misfortune- and the lot fell to Jonah.

Can you picture yourself in Jonah's shoes, the men are terrified, they decide that the only way to stop this storm is to deal with the one who caused it.  So they quickly cast lots...and as this is going on can't you see the wheels in Jonah's head turning saying "It's not me!" his conscience replying "Yes it is!"  Then the lot is cast and the fingers all point at him.

The men immediately turn to him and drill him with questions,
 
"Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
And he answered:
"I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."

Jonah lied in this small speech of his, he said "I fear the Lord".  Well if he truly feared Him he certainly wouldn't be out on that little boat right now waiting to drown now would he??  And it's interesting that he mentioned God making the sea and dry land- maybe he was thinking of dry land and how wonderful it would feel right at that moment.:)


Now once he made his statement of being a prophet of the Lord the men were terrified, they asked him,  

"What have you done?" 

Then it says in verse 10  
"(They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)"

Now it doesn't say when Jonah told them he was running away from God, but it is interesting that they knew.

"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?" and he replied "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm.  I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."

How sacrificial! How noble of Jonah to lay down his life!!! NOT!  In order for the seas to stop churning and the fears of everyone to be waylaid, all Jonah had to do was walk away from the men, cry out to God for forgiveness and tell God that he was wrong to try and run and that he will humble himself and go to Nineveh

But no, Jonah is still trying to get out of this, "Throw me to the waves! I will not bend my pride and go warn those sinful Ninevites!!"

Then in verse 13 it says: "Instead, the men did their best to row back to land.  But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before."

These pagans had more compassion for Jonah than Jonah did for them or for the Ninevites!! 
They didn't want to kill him, they didn't want to have the guilt of his death... so they tried to save him.  But God had a point to prove, and He was going to make it.

"Then they cried to the Lord, "O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man's life.  Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased."

These pagans were more concerned with pleasing God than Jonah was!!!! It is sad that sometimes God has to use an unbeliever to show us what we should be behaving like!! What a rebuke!!!

"Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.  At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him."

Through Jonah's disobedience God was able to teach these pagans about Himself.  It is hard to take that sometimes through our pain and discomfort we are simply being used as a tool to teach someone else.  As the waves grew calm the minute the pagans threw Jonah overboard these men began to make vows to serve the Lord- something the entire nation of Israel was refusing to do at the time!!!

"But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights."  Blech!!!!!!!:P

I will post part 2 soon!
God Bless!