Jonah 1:12 "And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you."
What's That Smell?!
My wife came into my office recently and asked, "What is that smell?" Don't you just love it when someone asks that question? Immediately you start to look for the problem in everyone and everything else. Isn't it jarring when you find that the "problem" is you? There have been times when I got annoyed at the ringing cell phone, the barking dog, or the misbehaving child. I thought to myself, "I wish someone would answer that phone (or quiet that dog, or discipline that child)!" And then I finally figure out that the ringing cell phone was my phone, or the barking dog was my dog, or the misbehaving child was mine!
This was exactly what was happening in the book of Jonah. God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach repentance unto them. We all know the story, how Jonah fled in a boat away from Nineveh toward Tarshish. Was he fooling God when he ran away? No! The only person Jonah ever fooled in this whole situation was himself. He thought the pagans in Nineveh were the problem-but in truth, he was the problem!
Jonah was not afraid to go to Nineveh; he was a rebel because he hated the people in Nineveh. He didn't want to preach to them because he didn't want them to repent! When he finally went and preached, the people did repent. Do you remember Jonah's response? Jonah 4:2 says, "And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil." Jonah wanted God to pour judgment on the people for their wickedness, but he failed to see the wickedness of his own heart! Jonah fell into the trap of being condemning of others while being complacent with himself.
So here in Jonah chapter one, we find Jonah sleeping on the boat in the midst of the storm. Was the storm the fault of these pagans? Was God's judgment upon them at this point? No. The reason for the storm was Jonah's disobedience, yet he let the sailors struggle while he slept. Finally, after the sailors woke him, Jonah admitted that he was the reason for the storm. He says in verse 12, "Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." The only way to solve the problem was to deal with the sin in his heart first.
We can apply this truth on a large scale to Christians as a whole. We will not see unsaved people saved and changed to be like Christ until we are revived and living as we ought. Revival is not for the unsaved-it is for those who are already born again.
Now let's apply this truth in a more personal way. Do you find yourself frustrated with people and situations around you? Maybe the problem isn't them, but you. Jonah thought the whole world was bad (bad weather, man-eating fish in the sea, etc.). But he would not have faced any of those problems if he had not chosen to disobey God. Sometimes the problem is closer to home than you think!
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