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The Storms of Life
Running from God never works out as planned. In Jonah's case, a storm on the open sea interrupts his escape plan. It's a bad storm. Even the hardened sailors on the ship are frightened, and they begin a fight for their survival.
This storm is no accident. It is part of God's loving plan to bring Jonah back to his senses. In this battle of wills, resistance is futile; God always outruns runners like Jonah.
Interestingly, though the storm is for Jonah, it gets everyone's attention but his. He sleeps through it, seemingly unaware of the trouble he has caused. He has to be woken up to face the storm--the very storm sent to get his attention.
Jonah's sleep is not a restful afternoon nap. It is a flight from reality: a way to avoid the truth of his situation and his rebellion against God. When sleep does not protect him from reality, he asks others to throw him into the raging sea. Jonah would rather die than do what God has called him to do.
If Jonah's sleep is one of flight, the sailors' reaction to the storm is one of fight. They fight by calling on their powerless gods for help, and they work as hard as they can to protect themselves from the storm that God has sent.
How do you respond to storms? Some of us, like the sailors, get into "fix it" mode. Others of us tend to live in denial and stubborn avoidance as Jonah did. Do you, like the sailors, fight to try to fix things? Or do you, like Jonah, respond to storms with flight, denying and avoiding reality? Neither fight nor flight are God-honoring responses to the storms of life; both reveal a lack of trust in God and a focus on self.
Jesus shows us another way to respond to storms. In the midst of a life-threatening thunderstorm, Jesus slept peacefully while the disciples panicked, struggling to save themselves. In contrast to Jonah, he did not sleep to avoid the storm, but because the storm was no threat to him. He stopped it with a word (Mark 4:37-39).
Instead of fighting or fleeing in the midst of storms, you can look to the One who beat the storm with a Word. This is the way to endure storms: turn toward God, admit the storm is there and reject attempts to save yourself. Trust in the Savior who gave his life for you, the only One who can calm the storm simply by saying, "Peace, be still."
About this Plan
It's often easy for us to beat up on Jonah for his self-centered, foolish rebellion. But as we'll discover, there's a bit of Jonah in all of us. Overcome by self-centeredness and personal prejudices, we too sometimes resist God's call. Thankfully, when we act like Jonah, God acts like God—lovingly pursuing us with his unrelenting grace. It's a wild ride, but one you don't want to miss!
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