Jonah
the prophet had been commissioned by the LORD to cry out against
“Nineveh” the “great city” because their
“wickedness” had “come up before” Him. Rather
than obey the LORD's word, Jonah caught a ship going to “Joppa”
to “flee from the presence of the LORD”. As he boarded the
ship, he descended into the lower part of it and fell asleep. In
chapter one and verse four of this prophesy, we see how the LORD
responded to Jonah's actions as He “sent out a great wind into
the sea” where we read:
But the
LORD sent out a great wind into the sea,
and there
was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be
broken.
The
verse begins, “But the LORD sent out a great wind into the
sea,...” The author began with the word, “But” which
is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated “the LORD”
which refers to “Yehovah or Jehovah” who is “the existing
One and the proper name for the one true God” “sent out”
or “hurled, cast and threw out” “a great wind” which
means “large, vivacious and vigorous wind” “into the sea”
or “the great basin of water wherein the ship sailed.” Although
Jonah desired to escape the presence of God, God was intimately
present with him, and He sent a “great wind” to
demonstrate it.
The
verse goes on to say, “and there was a mighty tempest in the
sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.” The author added,
“and there was a mighty” which is all one Hebrew word
“gadowl” and means “great, large and intense” “tempest”
or “storm, whirlwind or hurricane” “in the sea” or
“the great basin of water wherein the ship sailed”, “so that
the ship” which means the “large merchant ship” “was
like” or “planned, esteemed, calculated, invented, made a
judgment, imagined and counted” “to be broken” which
means “ruptured, maimed, crippled and wrecked”. The storm the
LORD sent upon the merchant ship was so intense that it was likely
that the ship would be broken into pieces.
When
we think through the words of this verse, we discover firsthand there
is no place for Jonah to “flee” from the “presence of
the Lord”. Even when Jonah thought he could “run” from the
LORD, God sent a “hurricane” to get his attention. We can imagine
the fear within the “mariners” of the ship, yet at this point
Jonah was oblivious to God's “storm”. When Jesus Christ
desires to get a person's attention, He may send “a storm”
into their lives, and the more they attempt to “flee” away
from Him, the more intense that “storm” may be. The
foremost decision for a person in a “storm” is to turn to
Jesus Christ, listen to His words, and ask Him for the direction He
desires for their lives. In other words, “surrender”.
Next
time we see how the “mariners” and “Jonah”
responded to God's great wind, 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment