Gtcotr/ss080314
Chapter 1
v1 The Word of the LORD came …
v2 Go … Two thirds of God is
go
·
Sent
to cry out against
·
These
were not idle threats but also not God’s intent to harm
·
Thank
God He warns concerning impending judgment
v3 Jonah resisted and rebel against the will of
God – he didn’t agree
·
Like
Jonah, we often pay for, (fund), our sin/rebellion
·
Instead
of arising to the call of God, Jonah went down into the ship and later down
farther to the depths of the ocean
·
Imagined
he could remove himself from God’s presence by going down
v4 The LORD sent out a great wind
·
God’s
intent was never to destroy the ship or kill Jonah, but it did seem like that
to many
v5 Fear drove the sailors do everything they
could to save themselves
·
Meanwhile
Jonah was sound asleep in the middle of the storm
·
Amazing
to note that people, even those close to God, often experience a great and
false sense of peace and security right in the midst of their rebellion. There
has to be a better indicator than simply how we feel … or what we think is
best. Oh, it’s the Word isn’t it …
v6 How can you sleep in a
time like this
·
Arise!
– Jonah received the very same word from the captain that he had heard from the
Lord. (get up, get engaged, stand, get involved)
·
There
was something strange, unusual and determined about this particular storm …
v7 The sailors felt remedy could only be found
in a spiritual approach
·
God,
who was superintending these events, overrode the pagan process of divination
and the lot fell on Jonah
v8 Maybe these questions would have been better
asked before they left
v9
Jonah begins his story
v10
Jonah told them his whole story … the
simply asked: Why?
v11 What can we do … to you !!! ??? A reasonable question:
·
They
knew somebody in this equation (in this boat) in this dilemma is going to have
to please and appease God
·
Is
there anything we can do to you to get you to please God? Jonah replied, nope,
not even if you threw me overboard … I’d rather die than admit I was wrong.
God’s not right on this one …
·
What
to do to make God happy and we will because evidently things aren’t going to get
any better till somebody starts pleasing God
v12 One of the reasons why Jonah could sleep so
soundly
·
People
in rebellion usually imagine they have little to lose and they are willing to
risk everything that belongs to somebody else
·
He
didn’t fear retribution or death, he had a false sense of security
·
The
only way you are going to have any peace in this boat is for me to get out of
it … but I’m not getting out on my own …
·
You’re
gonna have to throw me out!
v13 Good men don’t like to hurt people or to
imagine the worst
·
Those
sailors tried everything but nothing was working
·
Jonah
knew he was the problem, and he was honest, but honestly he didn’t care
anything for those men, their families, their stuff or their lives. Jonah
confessed but wouldn’t change
·
Jonah
would have sat there, or slept there, and let the boat sink and the men perish.
·
Jonah
was a gutless wonder – an honest man, but gutless …
v14 Sometimes we recognize
the fact that God has left us no choice
v15 So they got rid of Jonah by force
·
It
is reasonable to at least consider that maybe Jonah didn’t really think those
good ole boys would do it …
·
After
all, throwing people off a boat, even in the middle of a storm, is against the
law … everybody’s law
·
This
was a fare paying passenger who had definite maritime rights, one of which is
not to be thrown overboard by the crew.
·
Jonah
tells the story later but do you think anybody else ever told that story?
Surely they concocted some other story of what happened and how one of their
passengers strangely went missing at sea …
·
at
any rate … the storm ceased
v16 Those sailors converted, offered a sacrifice
to God and made promises
v17 You will never catch God
unprepared for what you will do or are doing
