Here am I, Lord, Send Me

Yesterday we decided that rather than go to church, we would have our own church service at home. A little while ago, RBC Ministries sent us an audio Bible study on Jonah, and it was so good that I’d like to share it with you. The devotional that we use each morning, Our Daily Bread, also comes from them.

In the beginning, the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” Nineveh had walls fifty feet high and a hundred feet thick; they used to have chariot races along the top, and the city was very wicked.

Did Jonah do as the Lord requested? No, he tried to flee to Tarshish, and to flee from the presence of the Lord – as if he could hide from God!

Psalm 139 says : Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

Scary thought, eh? God knows our every move, our every thought and even our intentions, and He knew Jonah’s intentions, probably before Jonah even knew them.

Jonah paid his fare on the ship at Joppa, destined for Tarshish, and was still trying to flee from the presence of the Lord. Then, the Lord sent a violent storm so that the ship was about to be broken. The seamen were afraid and:

1. cried each one of them to their own god
2. cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea

Where was Jonah during all of this? He was fast asleep in the sides of the ship, but unlike Jesus in Mathew 8:24, who was at peace in His sleep, Jonah was not at peace in his sleep.

The captain came to Jonah and asked him to call upon his God, for they thought that they would perish if his God did not hear him. Next, they cast lots to find out whose cause the evil was upon them, and the lot fell on Jonah.

The next questions are amazing, considering the circumstances. They ask Jonah what his occupation is, where he came from, what country he lived in and what people he belonged to? Quite a set of questions, especially when you consider what dire straits they were in. But Jonah answered them, saying I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord (what a lie!!) the God of heaven which hath made the sea and the dry land. It was no small wonder that everyone was afraid of what God could do to them – after all, it was He who made the sea, and He who commanded the storm. Then the men were exceedingly afraid (notice that the men are now exceedingly afraid) and asked Jonah why he had done this, as he had told them how he fled from the Lord.

By this point in time, the sea was really raging, and the men wanted to know what they needed to do to calm the tempestuous seas. Jonah replied that they were to cast him into the sea, but this was no mean feat for a Hebrew, as he wouldn’t have known how to swim, and would have been terrified of drowning.

They cried unto the Lord saying, “We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life. These were men who had previously had gods of their own, but now they were praying to the Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth.

So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men:

1. feared the Lord exceedingly.
2. offered a sacrifice unto the Lord
3. made vows

All of this from men, who prior to this, had their own gods. Now they accepted the one true God, maker of heaven and earth as their God, too. Yes, he was needed in Nineveh, for the Ninevites really needed God’s guidance and rebuke, but God, in His Wisdom knew that the mariners needed Him, too. Jonah may have thought that he was outwitting God, but in reality, God was still using Jonah for His purposes.

Oh, that we could be like Isaiah in Isaiah 6:8 and say: