Jonah 1:1 - 16

Running from God

© 2000, J.W. Carter
Scripture quotes from KJV

Jonah 1:6-10.

6The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." 7Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 9He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." 10This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)

How could Jonah sleep? Maybe he was trying to avoid seeing the real situation. Many Christians seem to be making the same response to the tragic circumstances our world faces. We easy sleepwalk through church, enjoying the hymns and the fellowship without coming to grips with the church’s real purpose. The account of Jonah should be a wake-up call to Christians to stop snoozing and get on with the business of missions. The price to be paid for avoiding God’s call is too high, not only for one’s self, but also for others around us.

The captain of the ship went to Jonah, and finding him sleeping, commanded him to call to his god, as the others were doing. It is interesting to note that the pagans were more faithful to their gods than Jonah was to his.

The supernatural characteristics of this storm must have been evident, as they cast lots to see what the source of this calamity was. Likewise, we often want to place blame on someone or something for the events of our lives. In this case, and individual was responsible. God used this to point to Jonah. It is interesting that, even knowing that he was the source of the calamity, Jonah refused to come forward. Even when faced with the drawing of lots, Jonah was silent. He did not confess until he had no choice. You can see Jonah quickly becoming the center of attention. The tragedy here is the amount of time it took for Jonah to come forward with answers that he had known all along. Why do we take so long to act on God’s call? Like Jonah, are we lulled to sleep by the evil one, unaware of the consequences of our disobedience?

When Jonah was confronted, he finally told them of who he was, and his response frightened them. Why? Certainly people throughout the region knew the history of the Israelites, and how their enemies often fell at their feet. This also identified for them that the storm was related to God. It is a shame that so many Christians will share their faith only when every other avenue of possibility is exhausted. The asked him, "what have you done." They already knew he was running from God. Now, they wondered what heinous crime he had committed. He did not disobey any worldly laws, but had disobeyed God.

Jonah could have, at any time, told the ship’s captain to take him back, yet he never did.

It is interesting to parallel this ocean-going crisis with that of Paul in Acts 28. Where Paul was shown faithful, Jonah was shown reluctant.