Yesterday morning I woke up grumpy. I grumpily got up out of bed. I grumpily grabbed my Bible and journal and grumpily walk downstairs to the living room where I grumpily started to tell God all about my sleepless night and all the other grumpy things that I could think up at that moment. After a bit, I grumpily opened up my Bible and was annoyed to find out that I was going to be reading about Jonah. I felt my first twinge of reproof for my attitude and my heart softened a bit as I thought, "sure God, have me read about Jonah. My problems pale in comparison to what he went through." As I began to read, God popped a section of scripture out to me I had never noticed before. It made me stop and think. Honestly, up to this point of reading, I had just been skimming because I know this story by heart .... and I was still a bit grumpy. (Please don't judge me.) Jonah 1:14-16 says:
Then they (the sailors) called on the Lord and said, "We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man's life and do not put innocent blood on us; for Thou, O Lord, hast done as Thou has pleased." So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
I have never thought about the sailors before in the story of Jonah. But Jonah had a big impact on them. I am sure they did not wake up that morning anticipating a storm or that they would be throwing a man over board in order to stop the storm. This day turned out waaaay different than any other day they had every had on the ship. On this day, the sailors were given the opportunity to see the power of God and it changed their lives. They were not saved when they got on the boat that morning and did not worship the one true and living God. The Bible says that when the storm began the sailors cried out to their gods. However, before they threw Jonah over the side of the ship, they cried out to God. When they saw the sea cease from raging; the Bible says, they feared God, made sacrifices to Him, and made vows. The thing that struck me was that God is forever in control. Jonah was not supposed to be on that boat. He was supposed to be in Nineveh. However, because of his presence on that boat that day, 3 men were able to witness the power of God and their lives were changed. They had a personal encounter with God and it spoke to me in a couple different ways.
1. It reminded me of how in control God is and that we cannot change the plan of God. He knew before time began that Jonah would fight Him about going to Nineveh. But that did not change God's plan. He was still in control of the situation even when Jonah tried to take control, by doing things his own way.
2. It reminded me of how God uses evil for good. He took Jonah's disobedient act and used it to impact the lives of three sailors. We focus on the lives of the Ninevites that were spared, but I wonder about these three sailors......their lives were changed also.
It is just awesome to me that in spite of what seemed like a calamity and in spite of the disobedience of a prophet, God worked miracles and brought His plan to completion. His name was glorified through it all. What a great reminder to me on my grumpy, grumpy morning. God is in control. God is always faithful. God always has a perfect plan.....no matter how grumpy I am, and no matter what I am facing. I can rest knowing things will be ok because He is faithful to do His perfect will and He is ALWAYS in control.
No comments:
Post a Comment