Jonah Calms the Storm

“Jonah Calms the Storm”

5/25/14

Jonah Chapter 1

Jonah had been asleep through a terrible storm that

threatened to destroy the ship he was on until the captain came and woke him up.

First the captain rebuked Jonah and then the sailors rebuked him. They said, “Let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.” The Bible warns us “that your sins will find you out” (1 Chronicles 32:23), and this happened to Jonah.

The pressure for Jonah to man up and repent was now coming from pagan people and not from God directly. God has a way of orchestrating circumstances to send His message to our hearts. As the sailors questioned Jonah, Jonah revealed who he was and who God was: “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the land.”

The sailors believed that what Jonah was saying was true because the Scriptures say that this “terrified them.” Maybe for the first time, these sailors were beginning to believe that their idols were not the same as Jonah’s God. The sailors had already run out of options—they prayed to their gods and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship, but nothing worked. So they asked Jonah, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

Jonah said, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm.” However, the sailors were more concerned for Jonah than Jonah had been about the people of Nineveh. The sailors tried to save Jonah by rowing back to the land. But the storm was too great, so they did what Jonah said and threw him into the sea. The storm calmed down, and the ship was saved. This caused these pagan sailors to worship God. “At this, the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and

 made vows to him.” Jonah’s repentance started a change in him and in the men around him.

These people would have never known the Lord if it weren’t for Jonah. How does your walk with the Lord impact others?