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Glory Seed Devotionals, 2016: Year of the Blessing
Jonah and the Storm...
Remember this from your childhood Sunday School Class, “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.” Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.” Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.” (Jonah 1:12–16, NLT)
You remember the story don’t you? God gave Jonah an assignment Jonah didn’t like what God was asking him to do so he decided to run and hide from God. That’s never a good idea because, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.” (Psalm 139:7–12, NLT)
For many the point of Jonah’s story is we cannot run and hide from God. However, that’s not the point I want to make this morning. Here’s the point I want to make this morning we all know God was teaching Jonah a lesson (and us) on running and hiding but the same storm used to teach Jonah he couldn’t run and hide God used to convert a boatload of sailors. Don’t miss this, “Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.” (Jonah 1:15–16, NLT) Just when you think all is lost God shows up and turns things and lives upside down! There are no “storms” God cannot bring a life out of!
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might!
Grace and PEACE, Amen!
Gary
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“Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.”
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