It is impossible to hide from God. Today’s Jesse Ornament is a whale, and the story of Jonah teaches us that God will not let us hide. He knows everything about us because He created us for His purposes. Jonah was told by God to go to Ninevah to try to save the city. He rebelled, but God got him there in a bizarre manner. Do we believe in miracles? Oh yes.
SCRIPTURE: [1]
The Lord spoke his word to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. I see the evil things they do.”
But Jonah got up to run away from the Lord. He went to the city of Joppa. There he found a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish. Jonah paid for the trip and went aboard. He wanted to go to Tarshish to run away from the Lord.
But the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. This wind made the sea very rough. So the ship was in danger of breaking apart. The sailors were afraid. Each man cried to his own god. The men began throwing the cargo into the sea. This would make the ship lighter so it would not sink.
But Jonah had gone down into the ship to lie down. He fell fast asleep. The captain of the ship came and said, “Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Pray to your god! Maybe your god will pay attention to us. Maybe he will save us!”
Then the men said to each other, “Let’s throw lots to see who caused these troubles to happen to us.”
So the men threw lots. The lot showed that the trouble had happened because of Jonah.
Then the men said to Jonah, “Tell us what you have done. Why has this terrible thing happened to us? What is your job? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?”
Then Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. He is the God who made the sea and the land.”
Then the men were very afraid. They asked Jonah, “What terrible thing did you do?” They knew Jonah was running away from the Lord because Jonah had told them.
The wind and the waves of the sea were becoming much stronger. So the men said to Jonah, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down?”
Jonah said to them, “Pick me up, and throw me into the sea. Then it will calm down. I know it is my fault that this great storm has come on you.”
Instead, the men tried to row the ship back to the land. But they could not. The wind and the waves of the sea were becoming much stronger.
So the men cried to the Lord, “Lord, please don’t let us die because of taking this man’s life. Please don’t think we are guilty of killing an innocent man. Lord, you have caused all this to happen. You wanted it this way.” Then the men picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea. So the sea became calm. Then they began to fear the Lord very much.
They offered a sacrifice to the Lord. They also made promises to him.
And the Lord caused a very big fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
THINK ABOUT IT
Jonah had a job to do for God, but he decided to run away instead. Bad mistake. Psalms tells us that God is everywhere. There is no hiding from God. But Jonah was a bit headstrong and decided to go to Tarshish instead of Nineva where God was sending him.
There are many stories in the Bible about the sea and big waves and storms. God controls them all. He knew just where Jonah was. He was on a ship, and the men on the ship were facing a big storm. Jonah realized God was speaking to him and had the men throw him overboard. When they did, God caused a big fish, maybe a whale, to swallow Jonah. The story tells us Jonah was in the belly of that whale for three days.
The three days may be significant. Jesus was in the tomb for three days, remember? Anyway, Jonah was coughed up right where he was supposed to be, and he did prophesy to Ninevah. We absolutely must listen to God!
The moral of the story is, God is in control, and we cannot, or should we ever, try to hide from God. He sees us, He knows our every thought, He knows what words we are about to speak, and He guards and guides us so we are ready to do what He tells us to do. We should want to follow His way, because it is best. It would be scary to be in the belly of a whale!
And one other thing, just a sideline. Whales do not chew their food. This largest of all creates strains tiny plankton plants from the sea and tiny fish called krill.. It doesn’t even have teeth; it has something called baleen. So, God even took care of this little detail. Isn’t that just amazing?
God does all things well. We just need to look to see how wonderful He is. Everything is under His control.
So, when He says, “Go!” we should go, or we might end up taking an interesting side trip like Jonah did!
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father:
We thank You for always being in charge of our lives. If we are left on our own, we mess things up so easily. When we know You want us to do one thing and we choose our own way, give us an uneasiness about it. Keep us on the path You choose for us. Keep us close to You, for that’s where we find perfect peace, knowing You are caring for us, and love us more than we can even imagine. Amen.
[1] Jonah 1: 1-17
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