Jonah 1:4 –5 ‘Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.’ (v4)
We wouldn’t have the Jonah story if God had let Jonah go. After all, He could have raised up another prophet who would be more willing.
But He had His purpose in sending this prophet to these people and so God intervenes with a storm, and we have the oddness of pagan sailors calling out to their gods with Jonah prayerless.
They urge the prophet of God to do the same and cast lots so that Jonah is identified as the culprit.
God uses pagan sailors and a game of chance! Jonah, to his credit, is prepared to sacrifice himself for the sake of the crew, realising that God had ordered the storm and assuming death would be the outcome.
We would be unwise to assume every event that stops us in our tracks is ‘heaven sent’. God doesn’t typically intervene in a dramatic fashion if we fail to follow His ways.
Reading into bad events is tricky, there is ‘the world, the flesh and the devil’ who may all have a part to play.
But equally circumstances may be pointing us in a particular direction, and we are wise to ask God what He is saying, trusting that if He is speaking He will confirm this to us in some way.
God is as imaginative today as He was then and speaks through all kinds of ways. The question is whether we are open to His voice and wise enough to heed it and where necessary change direction.
A Prayer To Make:
Thank You, Lord, that You lead Your people. Help me to use all the ways You guide as I chart my way ahead. Amen.
An Action To Take:
Take some time to think about your life: what is going well and what isn’t. Do you discern God’s hand at work?
Scripture To Consider:
Num. 20:8–12 & 22:21–35; Acts 1:6–8 & 16:6–10
