Back on speaking terms! (Sheena Marx)

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“Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?”
Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned. And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?”
 “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.” Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Jonah 1:8-12, 15-17 (NLT)

As soon as the crew knew that Jonah was the cause the storm, they ask him some very direct questions! “ What have you done?” “Who are you?” “Where are you from?” As the storm grew in intensity they wanted to know what they should ‘do with him’. They must have been both shocked and relieved at his reply “throw me into the sea”.

We know when we reach the place where we throw ourselves into the sea  and trust in God’s mercy, we are casting ourselves into the arms of a loving heavenly Father. Why does it always take so long for us to do this?

Jonah is swallowed by a big fish and confined inside its stomach and he begins to pray. God always listens to our prayers, even if they are late in coming and only because we are in trouble!

Confined inside the fish Jonah became a changed man. Have you found a ‘new you’ emerging since lockdown? Has it ever felt like God needed to ‘confine you’ in some way, in order to attract your attention? Lots of people have shared that ‘lockdown’ has felt like a personal confinement, being saved from the virus, even being saved from ‘self’ perhaps and even being saved from imminent temptation in some  way.

A prayer: Father, thank you that the ‘storms’ of life are not intended to destroy us, but to develop us, to grow us to be more like Jesus. May the storms we face ‘carry’ us closer to you. Amen
Sheena Marx

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