Jon 1:4-10 | KingComments | STEP | Of course, the LORD could have encountered Jonah earlier on. But He lets Jonah go as far as He deems right. It doesn’t get out of His hand. He never loses control of a case He has begun. He has given Jonah a task and He wants Jonah to carry it out. The beginning of the journey must have been very smooth. So smooth, that the gentle swaying of the ship has swayed Jonah asleep. Then it is God’s time to intervene. He knows exactly when to intervene. He also has the appropriate means to do so. God sends an obedient servant to follow His disobedient servant. That obedient servant is the wind. From His treasuries God sends this servant in favor of His runaway servant ( ; ). At first sight, a storm does not seem to be favorable. The ship is in danger of being broken up. Jonah and the other persons on board face destruction. But if God uses a storm in the life of His own, we can be sure that the storm will not get out of His hand and that it is a blessing. It is the grace of God Who seeks His servant and does not let him go in a way of sin for a long time. Sin always brings storms to a person’s life or family or to the church; sin never brings rest. It is beneficial to recognize in these storms the call of God by which He wants to awaken us, so that we may do His will again.

‏ Jonah 1:4-10

The LORD Intervenes

Of course, the LORD could have encountered Jonah earlier on. But He lets Jonah go as far as He deems right. It doesn’t get out of His hand. He never loses control of a case He has begun. He has given Jonah a task and He wants Jonah to carry it out.

The beginning of the journey must have been very smooth. So smooth, that the gentle swaying of the ship has swayed Jonah asleep. Then it is God’s time to intervene. He knows exactly when to intervene. He also has the appropriate means to do so. God sends an obedient servant to follow His disobedient servant. That obedient servant is the wind. From His treasuries God sends this servant in favor of His runaway servant (Psa 135:7c; Pro 30:4).

At first sight, a storm does not seem to be favorable. The ship is in danger of being broken up. Jonah and the other persons on board face destruction. But if God uses a storm in the life of His own, we can be sure that the storm will not get out of His hand and that it is a blessing.

It is the grace of God Who seeks His servant and does not let him go in a way of sin for a long time. Sin always brings storms to a person’s life or family or to the church; sin never brings rest. It is beneficial to recognize in these storms the call of God by which He wants to awaken us, so that we may do His will again.

Prayer and Action

It must have been a colorful group of people on board that ship. Superficially viewed their common goal is to ensure that the ship reaches its destination. Through the distress will come to the surface what is in the heart of everyone. Everyone confesses his faith, but it is not a unity of the faith, for every man cries to his own god.

In the same way, it seems that in a given company, everyone delivers his or her share to its success. But when there are storms or setbacks, it brings to light what someone believes. Then everyone has his own belief. We see this in politics, but also in the church. The Word of God is not consulted. Every man acts according to his own view.

The world is in need. Anyone who has an eye for this will try to do something about it according to his own view. At all kinds of conferences that are organized because of the need, people do not get together. Everyone continues to fight for their own interests. These interests are nourished by an ideology, a philosophy, a religion without faith in Jesus Christ as the Mediator between God and men. The prayer of the sailors is an expression of powerlessness in which a higher power is called upon.

In addition to their individual need which brings them to pray individually, there is also a common acting. Together they throw the cargo overboard. They want to lighten the ship so that it is easier to steer in the storm. But making the ship lighter does not change the intensity of the storm. It rages in full force. Only when the cause of the storm is known it can be calmed down. Thus, man is always busy to make problems bearable and manageable, without wanting to face the cause.

The problem of the ship is sleeping in the hold of the ship. Jonah has fallen into a deep sleep in the careless opinion that he had succeeded in his intention. How could he think that God would stop him at sea and bring him back from his disobedient way?

His sleep is not the sleep of trust, as with the Lord Jesus (Mt 8:24) or Peter (Acts 12:6). His sleep is the sleep of an insensitive conscience (1Thes 5:6). He thinks he is safe. He believes he has succeeded in his aim. But his sleep makes him insensitive to the disaster he is causing to his fellow passengers.

Maintaining one’s own self also causes others to end up in misery. This can be applied to the family or the local church. If someone doesn’t want his reputation to be damaged and demands his right where he should be tolerant, it is a disaster for the whole family or the church.

Wake Up and Pray!

What a shame when a pagan must reprimand and call upon a believer to pray. Numerous Christians are completely indifferent to the fact that the world is figuratively on fire. The fate that awaits millions of people to be tormented in hell forever does not bother them. How many Christians aren’t concerned about the fact that a family member, their neighbors or their colleague, their fellow pupil is on the way to eternal damnation?

Does it still touch us? “How is it that you are sleeping?”! We gaze at the entertainment that the Internet and television offer us. We roam the world wide web through countless ‘interesting’ things. We appease our conscience that we do not view the most terrible programs or sites. And the precious time passes by and spiritually we slowly dip away and sometimes literally. After a while it turns out that we have sunk into a very deep sleep.

There is not much difference between a deep sleeping and a dead person. Therefore the call must come: “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you” (Eph 5:14). It is time for a captain to come and wake us up. Shame on us, sleeping that fast, while the need is increasing more and more. Can we do nothing? Don’t we have boldness? Then let us rise up and pray to our God. No one needs a gift to pray. The smallest child can do that.

What is needed is faith. “And without faith it is impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is and [that] He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb 11:6). Or has our faith in the living God also ended? Does our faith no longer live? Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day; how many Christians do it hardly ever once a day? Let us wake up and pray for our lives and for the lives of those who are with us on board our life ship!

And the Lot Fell on Jonah

Jonah is awakened. Would he have fulfilled the captain’s call and prayed to God? Or would his conscience have spoken in the remembrance of the LORD, from Whom he is fleeing? It is not mentioned. In any case, he still does not tell what is going on. Jonah is silent for as long as he can, although he knows why the ship is in distress. If people are ashamed, but their own will is still active because it has not yet been judged, a lot of chastisement is needed to bring someone back on the right path.

The sailors see so many unusual things in the storm that they attach the right meaning to it. It is a storm that is the fault of one of those present on the ship. For Jonah, the storm is a catastrophe coming from the LORD (Amos 3:6b). For the heathen sailors it is a message of some divine justice (cf. Acts 28:4).

Special events often lead to a call to the conscience. God wants all kinds of national or personal disasters to have that effect (cf. Isa 26:9). But nobody on the ship wonders: ‘Am I the cause?’ It must be someone else. To find out they cast lots.

The casting of lots is often done in the Old Testament (Jos 7:16 ; Jos 15:1; 1Sam 14:36-42). It also happens one more time in the New Testament before the Holy Spirit is poured out (Acts 1:26). After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we do not hear that the church uses it. That would also be contrary to the way in which God now reveals His will. We have the complete Word of God and His Spirit Who guides into all the truth (Jn 16:13).

After the lot has fallen upon Jonah, it is not possible to remain silent any longer (Pro 16:33).

Accountability Is Asked

The sailors want an explanation from Jonah. They ask about his work, the profession he exercises. Maybe they do so with the thought that there may be something dishonest in it that has stirred the wrath of the gods.

This question can also be asked to us who claim to be Christians. What are we doing? Is that what we do a blessing or a curse to others? That applies to managing a business. Do we do business honestly, do we reward employees honestly, do subordinates get a fair assessment? It also applies to all kinds of other activities, including what we consider to be a hobby or leisure activity. What are we doing, why are we doing it and how?

They also ask Jonah where he comes from. Is there anything wrong in his background? What is his homeland? Who are his fellow countrymen? The answer to these questions can be important to determine what kind of man they have to do with.

These questions can also be applied to us who profess to be Christians. Where do we, as Christians, come from? Do we live out of the fellowship with God? Does that define our actions and the way we go? And is heaven our homeland? Can we say that we are citizens of heaven? And who are our fellow citizens? Are these all the children of God? If we’re asked those questions, when we’re in a position like Jonah’s, we’ll feel pretty uncomfortable.

Accountability Is Given

Only after lots has been cast and questions are asked, Jonah does come up with a statement. He is forced to do so. His explanation is therefore not yet a real repentance for his disobedience. His conscience has not yet been brought into the light of God. That is why the storm has not yet subsided and God must teach him even more.

Jonah acknowledges that he is to blame. He calls himself a Hebrew, a name that the Israelite has among the Gentiles (Gen 39:14 ; 17 ; Gen 40:15; 1Sam 4:6 ; 9 ; 1Sam 14:11). In his confession concerning God, he confesses the LORD as “the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land”. This means that Jonah does not confess God as the God of Israel, the God of one special people. He makes Him known to the sailors, heathen, as he should have done in Nineveh.

With this confession he indirectly condemns his own fleeing. He also says with this that you can’t flee from that God.

Impressed

Jonah did not inform them about his being on the run when he boarded, but he did so in his answers to their questions. That his explanation about the LORD God is not a fabrication, is underlined by the circumstances. It filled the sailors with fear. It seems that the disgraceful disobedience of Jonah makes these heathen more impressed by God than the prophet himself.

A believer can tell with a certain indifference about God’s actions with him, while this makes a great impression on people who do not take God into account. When someone says he is punished by God for disobedience, it sometimes makes a deep impression on people who do not know Who God is. That’s because those people know by themselves how many things they have done in disobedience. In this way God can even use disobedience from those who profess His Name to impress others of His power.

Of course this does not in any way justify a person’s disobedience. And it is also the question of whether someone who is deeply impressed by God’s omnipotence also turns to God.