Somebody Needs a Storm

Those of us who are parents have often had to deal with stubborn, disobedient children. Unless your son or daughter was truly a little angel and never needed correction, at times you had to take drastic measures to get their attention and get them to comply with your wishes.

But whether you had to speak sternly, stand them in a corner, paddle their behinds, take away some toy or privilege, send them to their room without supper, or some other unpleasantness, hopefully, your discipline was given out of a heart of love for that child. Because true love for your child must teach that child to obey.

In the story of Jonah, we meet a prophet, a divine messenger, a man of God, who became the ultimate disobedient child.

Most people easily identify Jonah as the man who got swallowed by the big fish. But we’re not going to get that far in our message today. Today I want to talk about the path that led up to that “whale of a tale.” Namely, Jonah’s disobedience and God’s surprising response.

But let’s begin by learning a bit about our Brother Jonah. Interestingly, the name “Jonah” means “dove.” And the name of his father, “Amittai,” means “faithful.” Can you think of the first time a dove is mentioned in the Bible? Right: it was when Noah released a dove from the ark to find out if the waters of God’s flood judgment had subsided, or dried up.

I think it is kind of ironic that, many years later, some sailors would throw a man called “dove” out into a turbulent sea in order to calm the storm. Sometimes Biblical names have more hidden meanings than we notice on the surface!

Anyway, Jonah was called to be a prophet during the reign of the Israelite King Jeroboam the Second. And unlike many of the Israelite prophets, Jonah had good news for his people. He foretold that Jeroboam’s reign would prove prosperous and that the king would expand the northern kingdom of Israel almost to where it had extended during King Solomon’s reign. Of course, two other prophets, Joel and Amos, prophesied that Israel would later be judged for its sins of idolatry and immoral activities, and would be defeated and taken into exile by the Assyrian armies. But this threat was still a long way off. So Jonah was probably content and happy to be giving positive messages to his people.

Have you noticed, though, that God’s goal isn’t just limited to making His children happy and contented? There are times He gives us unpleasant duties to perform. There are periods of hard labor, grief, frustration and boredom that He arranges for His children. We are called to deal with things and people we would rather not deal with. And all of these can be stormy situations, but situations God believes are necessary in our lives. This became the case with our man Jonah.

The Lord didn’t choose to leave Jonah just basking in the sunshine of his comfortable life there in Israel. Instead, He sent a message to him: “Get up and go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry out against it, for their sins have come up before Me.”

In Jonah’s mind, this was like seeing dark, angry stormclouds encroaching on his sun-shiny life! Ninevah was one of the Assyrians’ chief cities. The Assyrians were Israel’s bitter enemies. They had conquered the Arameans decades before, and had forced Israel to pay them tribute. Joel and Amos predicted that these same people would one day come and punish Israel for its own sins, killing thousands and leaving destruction in their wake. So, to Jonah, cutting off his own arm would be preferable to traveling all the way to hated Assyria to warn the wicked Ninevites that God was angry about their sins! LET God be angry with them. LET God punish THEM! Surely, that’s what was in the prophet’s heart when he received this troubling command.

So, Jonah got out his map and planned his journey. Not TO Ninevah, as God had ordered...but in the opposite direction. “Now,” he thought, “where is the most far-off destination I’ve ever heard of? A place where God would have trouble finding me and bringing me back from? Ah, yes. Tarshish, that’s it. Tarshish is way out west across the Great Sea on the coast of Spain. First, I’ll ride my donkey down to Joppa. This is the season for sailing. Ships leaving to take olive oil and other exports across the Sea. Surely there’s a ship that’s going in that direction.”

Well, I have to ask: Have you or I ever thought in similar ways? Have we ever had a clear idea of some task God expected us to do, but proceeded to do the opposite? How did we justify our disobedience? Did we say to ourselves, “After all, I’ve obeyed all the rest of God’s commands pretty faithfully. Bending this one really isn’t that serious. There are OTHER people I’d rather share the gospel with than THAT difficult person. So, I’ll go and speak to them instead. If God REALLY wants me to do this difficult task, He’ll ask me again when I’m older...or smarter...or stronger...or better able to deal with it. And after all, God is gracious and understanding. He’ll forgive this ONE sinful choice, won’t He?”

The Prophet Jonah, a man of God, surely knew better than to say “NO!” to his Master. But even men of God are fallen, sinful human beings. We forget that sometimes. We forget that even the most upright, virtuous, well-taught, experienced Christians can stumble and fall, making very unloving, un-Christlike choices. The greatest Bible heroes of the faith all had their areas of sin and weakness, blind spots in their characters, nasty habits that were hard to break. David was a murderer and an adulterer when he took Bathsheba for his wife. Peter was a liar and a coward and a blasphemer when he denied that he knew Jesus our Lord. The Apostle Paul wrote often in his epistles that he needed his readers to pray for him. In James chapter 5 we read “Therefore, confess your sins to each other, and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” So, when you pray, don’t forget to pray for your pastors and other spiritual leaders. They are often asked to do very daunting tasks and they need our prayers, support and encouragement, day by day, week by week, year by year.

Well, Jonah, God’s disobedient child, was on the run. In effect, he was telling the Lord in no uncertain terms, “I’m handing in my Prophets Card, I’m definitely NOT going to Ninevah, and nobody is going to MAKE me go there!” He was throwing down his gauntlet and DARING God to take action. In a way, you have to admire Jonah’s audacity and guts. Challenging the Almighty is worse than challenging an exploding volcano, or a deadly hurricane. Apparently, Jonah would rather DIE than obey the Lord’s command--a command he violently disagreed with.

Now if you or I were the Lord, how would we have responded? “Fine. I’ll just let you go. If you’re too stubborn to follow orders, I can find dozens of others who’d be happy to take your place.” OR: “I’ll just send you a heart attack and kill you on the spot. That’ll show you!” OR: “I’ll just reach into your little mind and give you a slight attitude adjustment toward the Ninevites. That way, you’ll be happy to go preach to them.” There are many ways God could have responded to Jonah’s rebellion.

But He chose to send a STORM. A mighty wind which He hurled upon the sea.

What did this storm accomplish in Jonah’s life? What do the storms in our own lives accomplish when God chooses to send them? Are they really necessary? Do they really work?

Storms REVEAL GOD’S POWER.

Storms REMIND OF GOD’S PERSONALITY.

Storms RESULT IN GOD’S PURPOSES.

In the book of Job, chapter 38, the Lord answers Job “out of the whirlwind.” He begins to question his servant Job with dozens of probing questions Job cannot answer. “Do you know this? Can you do that? Can you find out those things that only God knows and is capable of? In a way, whirlwinds and hurricanes and thunderstorms are vivid symbols of God’s awesome POWER. Man has always dreamed about being able to control the weather. The old joke says: “Everyone TALKS about the weather, but, funny, no one ever DOES ANYTHING about it.” When we are faced with gathering stormclouds and screeching winds, we are reminded that we are at the mercy of powers over which we have NO CONTROL. And behind all of those earthly powers stands the omnipotent power of a holy GOD.

When God responded to Jonah’s rebellion by sending a storm, He was saying: “Here, my child. This is the power of the Person you are dealing with. Have you forgotten who made the heavens and the earth? Forgotten who made YOU? There are many sources of power in our universe: the burning fusion of the sun and the stars. The incredible heat under our feet that erupts in fissures and volcanic eruptions. The thundering of Niagara Falls that is harnessed to mammoth generators that create electricity. Nuclear reactions that can either light up our homes, or destroy our cities with hydrogen bombs. All these forces are available because of an all-powerful Creator. We must never forget that this Power of all powers is the One who holds our very lives in His hand!

The pagan mariners who manned the ship Jonah sailed upon were well aware of this powerful deity, although they didn’t actually know exactly WHO it was. They cried out, each to his own god, fearing for their lives. Because, in the sense of the original Hebrew language, “the ship was considering breaking up.” The gigantic waves of God’s storm were battering the ship so badly that there were no ATHEISTS on board that day! Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are none on a doomed sailing ship at the mercy of a raging sea.

These sailors were praying to the wrong gods, but at least they were PRAYING. Somehow they had the awareness that this storm was PERSONAL. Perhaps it had come suddenly and without warning. Maybe it was not the season for severe storms, so they realized this one must have some divine purpose behind it. Just like them, Christians need to be reminded that God is a divine PERSON. Storms can remind us that God can be angered. He can be grieved and He IS grieved when we sin against Him! Although God never loses control of His anger the way WE do, He is not just some imperturbable FORCE that we can choose to either plug into or to ignore at our whim. This all-powerful Creator is a Person who loves, cares, grieves, and displays His wrath when sinners refuse to repent of their rebellion.

And where was the rebellious Jonah? While the crew of the ship were praying and casting the cargo overboard to lighten the ship, Jonah was asleep. Yes, he was in the lowest part of the ship, perhaps continuing to avoid his duty by escaping into dreamland. This is something most of us will be familiar with. Instead of seeking to love our neighbors and grow in God’s grace as He has commanded us, we are glued to our televisions or have our heads and hearts buried in the pleasures of this world. We escape into dreamland and try to avoid the unpleasant duties God has assigned to us. There are definitely times when the Lord rightly brings harsh storms into our lives to shake us out of our sinful slumbers and make us face the reality of His purpose for us!

And what was God’s purpose for the sleeping Jonah? To be a spokesman for His God. This was a purpose that the Lord was not prepared to abandon. Not in Jonah’s life, and no, not in our lives either. If we read on in the book of Jonah, we’ll find that God will have His way with His children, even if He has to correct us, WITH A STORM.