“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” – Jonah 1:12
Today’s Reading: Jonah; Revelation 10
Dear Jonah,
You remind me a lot of Sampson. God chose you to fulfill a specific task but you decided that you didn’t want to do it. So what did God do? He nearly destroyed the boat you were sleeping in just to get your attention.
But the thing that really gets me is what you said to your shipmates. You said that it was your fault that this great storm had come upon them. How did that feel? That just doesn’t seem fair. Why must other people suffer just because you strayed off your path for a second?
I guess that’s true for life too when I think about it. Everything we do, or don’t do, has an effect on the world around us. If we decide that we are too scared to say hello to someone that God wants us to touch then maybe they aren’t uplifted as they should have been. Maybe they needed encouragement that we were uniquely built to provide. Maybe they were headed toward a really bad decision that could have been prevented by a few kind words.
That seems like a heavy burden. It almost seems too heavy, but strangely it makes sense. Since we are all connected, it is important that we all do our part. God’s Will will be done either way, but the more that we decide to say yes the better things are for us and every one around us.
The storms stop, the clouds part and the sun rains down.
We could always choose to be like Sampson. We could just run away until our destinies catch up to us. Or we could walk into them with joyful obedience.
Either way God’s Will is always done; but just maybe we don’t have to lose our lives or be thrown overboard for it to happen.
Thanks for the lesson.
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