The Relentless Love of God for a Non-Prophet

Mariners are professional sailors. They are experts in the matters of traveling on the sea and dealing with problems that are faced with sailing. Their situation is not run-of-the-mill bad weather at sea; these mariners are afraid. The situation is so bad that the sailors have given up hope of saving their cargo; it is being thrown overboard in an attempt to make the ship lighter. I can hear them saying

Forget the cargo! We can lose

the livelihood; we just want to

live. Men, let us try to live through

this. We will deal with the issue

of lost cargo if we can survive this

storm.

And their efforts to live were not just in the physical; before throwing cargo into the sea they reached out in the spiritual realm for help: 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐝 (Jonah 1:5). It is a chaotic scene. There is a storm threatening to destroy the ship and its crew, men are crying out to their gods for help, and cargo is being thrown out in a desperate attempt lighten the load and survive. But down in the lowest parts of the ship, Jonah is sleeping hard or was fast asleep. When the captain finds the slumbering prophet he is confused. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫?” That is, “What are you trying to tell us, man? What is the meaning of taking a nap when we are about to die? Call on your god!”

Jonah, oblivious to what has been happening, is depressed and has been trying to escape from (1) the presence of the Lord and (2) his own feelings of dismay. Sleep, like drugs or sex, is a coping mechanism and form of escape. He may be sleeping because he walked a bit to get to Joppa. But the fact that he retreated to the lowest part of the ship in an indicator that Jonah does not want fellowship with God or men. He rages against all wise judgement and is running from his calling (Proverbs 18:1).

A man who isolates himself

     seeks his own desire;

He rages against all

     wise judgment.

But his disobedience has put him and the people around him in peril. God had called the prophet for help; the Lord wanted Jonah to bring his word to a wicked city (Jonah 1:1). Jonah refused the call and ran from the Lord. Now he is the one that needs to call out for help. Ironic? Not really. His sin has found him out (Number 32:23) and God is relentlessly pressing on his prophet to come out of his hate-fuled rebellion back into relationship and back into service. The Lord loves Jonah and won’t let him go. Love never fails.

In His grip by His grace,

Roderick Barnes