Sleeping through the Storm

But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up...But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

Jonah 1:3-6

Sin brings storms. So many Christians today seem to think they can rebel against God and live unaffected. They think that as long as they believe in God, they can disobey Him as much as they want. But they are wrong because they have no fear of the Lord. And because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) we know that they are foolish as well. Don't follow their course. It will throw your life into turmoil every time. Let's see how it affected Jonah. 

First, we see that Jonah's plans were thwarted. He has set himself against an all-powerful God and now he has an all-powerful enemy opposing him. God is standing in his way, blocking his path, and he isn't going to get to Tarshish. You can’t direct your life away from God’s will and expect to get where you want to go. It’s not gonna go how you think.

Second, we see that Jonah has blessings removed and curses applied. What started out as an easy trip has become anything but. There is no smooth sailing for the disobedient child of God. The storm threatens to tear the boat apart. The wood is cracking and splintering. An all-mighty God is using his power to violently get Jonah’s attention. Do you want him doing that with you?

And where was Jonah in all of this? He was asleep, completely unaware of the danger he was in. Maybe you are like Jonah- a child of God, living in disobedience and completely asleep and unaware of the danger you are in. The wrath of a Holy God is seeking you out. God is trying to get your attention! Wake up, cry out to God and deliver yourself before it’s too late!

The Lost Art of Repentance

The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah 3:5-6, 10

When was the last time you were broken over your sin? When was the last time you really spent time in prayer asking God to forgive you? Or better yet, when was the last time you confessed your sins to another Christian (James 5:16) and asked them to pray for you as you tried to break the power of sin in your life? Or even more rare, when was the last time you repented of how you had been living publicly, like maybe before your church? 

Chances are you haven't done any of those things recently, because most believers don't really ever repent. It's a shame really because there is power in true repentance. It saved the city of Nineveh when Jonah preached to them (Jonah 3). It saved the wicked King Ahab of Israel (I Kings 21:17-29). And it saved the wicked King Manasseh of Judah (2 Chron 33:1-13). True, heartfelt, gut-wrenching repentance is a key to unlocking God's compassion.

"How do I do it?" you might ask. Well, the Ninevites, for all their wickedness, give us a pretty good example to follow. when it comes to repentance. Kings Ahab and Manasseh follow pretty much the same model as do many more in Scripture. 

First, their repentance was wholehearted. They believed God's Word and acted in keeping with it. Second, they humbled themselves with fasting and sackcloth (itchy garments used for repenting and mourning). This was a way to show God and themselves that they really meant it. Third, they repented publicly. They knew that there was no private way to cover up their public sin. If your sin stays between you and God then confess it to God privately, but public sin requires public repentance. They repented publicly in a big way. And it yielded God's compassion.

Remember that God does not change. When you find yourself deserving of God's wrath, enslaved in sin, and ashamed of yourself the old course of action is still the best course of action. Fight off your instinct to cover up your sin. Instead come clean. Drag it into the light and beg for mercy. True repentance will bring compassion out of a gracious God.

Too Small a Thing (W.o.W. Rewind)

And now the LORD says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 49:6

Why is it "too small a thing" for Jesus to save only the Jews? Why does God insists, even as far back as this Old Testament prophecy predicting Christ as the Suffering Servant, that His salvation must reach the "ends of the earth?"

There are many reasons. For one, God is no respecter of persons. He loves all the nations and offers forgiveness to all. Here's another, no one people group is any more deserving of God's free grace than another. But in his book entitled Let the Nations be Glad, John Piper draws our attention to a reason that we often overlook. He argues that God is more glorified by saving people from every nation, tribe and tongue than He would be simply by saving a large number from a few people groups. Why is it more glorifying to God to ensure His salvation reaches the ends of the earth?

First, if He is God of all, then He deserves praise from all. How can He be the one true God, the Creator of all the earth if He is worshiped by only one people group? It doesn't fit. The one true God deserves to be worshiped by all. God deserves to be praised in Swahili. He is worthy of adoration in French, Books ought to be written about His greatness in Farsi.

Second, different people groups and cultures worship God in different ways. God is too diverse in His beauty, character and excellence for any one people group to reflect back to Him all the worship He deserves. Piper puts it this way. "More depth of beauty is felt from a choir that sings in parts than from a choir that sings only in unison. Unity in diversity is more beautiful and more powerful than the unity of uniformity" (Piper p.222). Our worship is inherently more beautiful when it is offered by a diverse body of believers. 

Third, it shows the greatness of God's true worth. "The fame and greatness and worth of an object of beauty increases in proportion to the diversity of those who recognize its beauty. If a work of art is regarded as great among a small and like-minded group of people but not by anyone else, the art is probably not truly great. Its qualities are such that it does not appeal to the deep universals in our hearts but only to provincial biases. But if a work of art continues to win more and more admirers not only across cultures but also across decades and centuries, then its greatness is irresistibly manifested" (Piper p.222). 

This means that you and I must do more than simply worship God in the way that best fits our culture and skin color. We ought to pray for the gospel to reach unreached people groups. And we should push the gospel to the ends of the earth by giving to missions, going on mission trips, and encouraging our churches to become more ethnically diverse. Let's make Jesus' name great at home and to the ends of the earth because He is worthy of all worship!