I am Jonah

  The story of Jonah is one that most of us have heard about from our early childhood. We often think that Jonah and the big fish are the key characters in the story, but in reality it is a story about a man who ran from God and the God who pursued him in love.

  The Bible tells us in Jonah 1:2 several key thoughts that are vital if we are going to understand the story. It is here that we are told that God had told His prophet, Jonah, that he was to go at once to Nineveh to tell them that their evil had come to His attention. We are also told a couple of key things about Nineveh. 1) Nineveh is a great city, which speaks to its size. Jonah tells us it was a three days walk across the city and that around 120,000 people lived there. 2) Nineveh is an evil city. The prophet Nahum described Nineveh as city of blood shed. They took great comfort in torturing their enemies and they were a perpetual enemy of Israel. 

  As I read through Jonah 1:1-16 there are several things that stood out to me that I would like for you to consider.

1. When we say NO to God we are rebelling against His Lordship over our lives

  In Jonah 1:3, we are told that Jonah got up and headed to Joppa and found a ship headed to Tarshish. The problem with is that Tarshish is 2,000 miles west of Israel. This man who is a prophet of the most High refuses to obey what he has been commanded to do. Don't miss this point: you are no further away from God than when you are close to Him and you say, "NO!" 

2. Our disobedience always affects others

  In Jonah 1:4, we discover that the Lord seeing that His prophet has disobeyed His command hurled the wind like a spear to stop the fleeing prophet. The wind and waves became so severe that the ship determined to break apart. If the ship breaks apart, not only will Jonah perish in the sea, but so will the sailors who are manning the ship. We have this tendency to believe that our sin will not be found out and that if it does it will only affect us. But the reality is that our sin impacts not only our lives, it impacts our family, our friends, and our church family!

3. God sends storms into our lives to wake us up from the slumber of sin

  In Jonah 1:5-16, we begin to discover the reason that God sends this storm into the life of His prophet. We are told that the sailors are deathly afraid and they cry out to their gods for deliverance and they begin throwing the ships cargo overboard trying to lighten it so that they can regain control. While the prayer meeting is going on, the prophet of God is down in the bottom of the ship sound asleep. They wake Jonah up and then they begin to cast lots to see who is the one who has offended the deities. The lot falls on Jonah and they begin to ask him a bunch of questions. 

  In verse 9, Jonah tells them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." It seems ironic that the person who says that he fears, (worships, reverences), the Lord, is the one who would rather flee from His presence than to obey Him. As you read through the story it also amazes me that this man of God would rather be thrown into the sea than to repent and obey the Lord. But then I reflect on my own life and I see many times that I would rather pursue the desires of my heart than to obey the God who has purchased my life with the blood of His Son. After these sailors have tried everything to no avail, they finally do what Jonah had suggested and they throw him into the sea.

  Please don't miss this point: God sent the storm into Jonah's life not to punish him for his sin, but to bring him back from his sin. 

  In his book, The Gospel According to Jonah, J. D. Greear tells the story that each year during Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, that the people read the entire book of Jonah and then they say in unison, "We are Jonah!" The truth is that all of us can identify with Jonah because there have been times in our lives where we have said no to God. At this moment you may be saying no to God.

• Maybe it's a relationship that you know is not pleasing to God, and yet you refuse to end it. Or maybe it's a relationship that is broken and you refuse to forgive and make things right.
• Maybe it's something that you are doing that you know is wrong and yet you have decided that you aren't going to quit. 
• Maybe it's something that you know that you should be doing with your life, your money, or your time and yet you have chosen to tell God no.

  If you find yourself in the storm of God's discipline, why not surrender and just say, "YES!"