Nineveh was a large and well — fortified city. It is a common human reaction for anyone to run away from any sign of danger or trouble to save his very own life. However, have you heard of anyone running away from God?
Study Guide for Jonah 1 by David Guzik
Yet Jonah did it and perhaps he broke the last Olympic marathon record! What made him run away from God?
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His lack of confidence in doing what God has called him to do? His fear of the people of Nineveh? This list of possibilities could go on. In order not to rob you of the joy of self-discovery, it is left for you to search from the Scriptures to find out what was in the heart of Jonah.
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The simple but yet vital truth of Prov. It is part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. The place to which God turns. While we might be enthused by the main character of this story, Jonah, it might be enriching for us also to take a look at heart of God and the heart of the sailors, and then compare these with the heart of Jonah. How did the sailors respond when they came to know that Jonah was running away from God?
Every man cried out to his god: When in trouble, man does his best to fix the problem. In this case, they threw the cargo overboard. When that isn't enough, man also instinctively turns to his god. If we don't know the true God - the God of the Bible - before we are in trouble, we may sincerely turn to a false and imaginary god, one of our own making. Many people assume that they can put off doing their business with God until they choose a "better" time to do it.
Nevertheless, it is extremely presumptuous to think that in the moment of crisis we will be able to call upon the true God if we have not dealt with Him before. How could Jonah sleep in the middle of this storm?
Perhaps because the storm outside seemed insignificant to him in comparison to the storm inside , the storm that came from his resistance against God. What a curious and tragic scene! All the sailors were religious men, devout in their prayers to their gods. Yet their gods were really nothing , and could do nothing. There was one man on board who had a relationship with the true God, knew His Word, and worshipped Him - yet he was asleep!
The devil alone is making noise enough to wake all the Jonahs if they only want to awake … All around us there is tumult and storm, yet some professing Christians are able, like Jonah, to go to sleep in the sides of the ship.
The nature of Jonah's sleep is also instructive, and too much like the sleep of the careless Christian:. How can you know that you are not asleep? I mean, first, his having a thorough consciousness of the reality of spiritual things. When I speak of a wakeful man, I mean one who does not take the soul to be a fancy, nor heaven to be a fiction, nor hell to be a tale, but who acts among the sons of men as though these were the only substances, and all other things the shadows.
I want men of stern resolution, for no Christian is awake unless he steadfastly determines to serve his God, come fair, come foul. What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God: The captain knew that his crew cried to their gods, but it did nothing. Perhaps Jonah's God could do something in the crisis. It must have seemed ironic to Jonah that the sailors demanded that he call on his God. His only reason for being on that ship was to escape his God. And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.
Then they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? That we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us: It is hard to know what motivated the sailors to think that the storm was sent because one of them had wronged their God.
Perhaps it was because of some spiritual insight, and they sensed a spiritual power in the storm. Or, perhaps it was just fortunate superstition. The lot fell on Jonah: Once the lot fell on Jonah, the sailors wanted to know as much as they could from Jonah, so they could discover a remedy and save their lives. What is your occupation: When he was asked, " What is your occupation?
The God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land: Even a believer who is in a state of rebellion can give glory to God if he will only tell the truth about God. Although, it is tragic that Jonah's life contradicted his knowledge of God. However, at the moment when Jonah said, " I fear the LORD ," he may have already repented of running away, turning back to God because of the present circumstances. Why have you done this?
Even an unbeliever who knows some truth about God can rightly rebuke a Christian who is resisting God. Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? And he said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me. What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? The more the sailors hear, the worse the situation gets - the sea was growing more tempestuous.
Pick me up and throw me into the sea: Why did Jonah ask to be thrown into the sea? Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land: The sailors did not want to throw Jonah into the sea, because they believed his God was for real and they dreaded the consequences of throwing a prophet, even a disobedient prophet into the sea. Still, when all hope seemed to be lost they took precautions " We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood " and threw Jonah into the sea. The sea ceased from its raging: The immediate end of the storm proved that Jonah's God was for real, and that Jonah's resistance to that God was the real problem.
The sailors moved from fearing the storm to fearing the LORD, just the disciples in the boat did when Jesus calmed the storm Mark 4: Conscience accuses no longer. Judgment now decides for the sinner instead of against him. Memory can look back upon past sins, with sorrow for the sin it is true, but yet with no dread of any penalty to come.
It is a blessed thing for a man to know that he cannot be punished, that heaven and earth may shake, but he cannot be punished for his sin. Notice that the vows of the sailors came after they were delivered. Based on this, many commentators believe that the sailors came to a true faith in God. Spurgeon preached a sermon with four wonderful points based on the actions of the crew in this chapter. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry.
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Basic Study Questions for Jonah 1:1-6
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Bible Study - Jonah - Lesson 1
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