As Jonah fled
from “the presence of the LORD” and the commission God
gave him, the LORD “sent out a great wind into the sea”,
and although the ship was likely to be “broken” apart,
Jonah had descended into the lower deck of the ship and fell asleep.
“The mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god”,
and they threw the “wares” of the ship “into the
sea”, and yet, Jonah was fast asleep. In chapter one and verse
six of this prophesy, the “shipmaster” asked Jonah what he
means by “sleeping”. We read:
So the
shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What do you mean, O
sleeper?
arise,
call upon your God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we
perish not.
The
verse begins, “So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him,
What do you mean, O sleeper?” The writer began, “So the
shipmaster” which refers to “the chief seaman, pilot or
sailor” “came to him” or “Jonah”, “and said to
him” which means “spoke, uttered, commanded, promised and
intended”, “What do you mean O sleeper” which means
“unconscious one, heavy in sleep, stupefied and stunned one”? We
can almost imagine the vigor and puzzlement with which this
“shipmaster” came to Jonah to ask him how he could be
“sleeping” in the midst of this storm.
The
verse goes on to say, “arise, call
upon your God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish
not.” The
writer added, “arise”
which means “rise, stand, persist, be set and fixed”, “call
upon your God”
or “proclaim, utter a loud sound and cry out to his ruler, judge
and divine one”, “if so be that
God” which
refers to “your ruler, judge and divine one” “will
think” which
is the Hebrew word “`ashath”
which literally means “to be smooth, shiny and gleam” and carries
the idea to “excogitate
as if forming in the mind and shine” “upon
us that we perish not” which
means “we do not vanish, go astray, be destroyed, be exterminated,
lost and strayed”. The “shipmaster”
called upon Jonah to “cry out” to his God so that he and the
other mariners might not “perish”.
When
we think through these words, we can hardly blame this “shipmaster”
for seeking out Jonah and chastising him. From his perspective, the
“shipmaster” saw Jonah as “indifferent, lazy and
non-concerned” about the conditions of the ship. If we are not
careful, we can be “asleep” and “indifferent” in the midst of
the storm God brings into our lives. Perhaps the Lord Jesus has
allowed conditions and circumstances that seem like a great wind
teeming against us, and if so, our best response is to “arise”,
“call upon” our “God”, and seek Him so we do not
“perish” in the midst of our travail.
Next
time we see how the “mariners” “cast lots” to discover
their trouble came from Jonah, so read ahead, and we shall join
together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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