TRAVELLING WITH JONAH
Jonah 1:1-5
In life, travelling with a disobedient Jonah is always a high risk venture that is never worth the effort or partnership. The loss that one will sustain will always be more than the gain that accrues to ones account from such a voyage.
Sharing the fuel bill with a Jonah may relieve the financial burden on the trip but the attending calamities and accidents can never make such a journey a pleasurable experience.
Sharing accommodation with a cursed Pashur may reduce the financial expenses and outlay but the consequences are always devastating (Jeremiah 20:4,6).
Who are you travelling with on life’s long and winding journey? Who is in your life’s ship – a disobedient Jonah or a favoured Jesus? (Jonah 1:1-16; Mark 4:35-41). Who is your wife, husband, in-law, pastor, business partner, etc.? (Judges 21:18).
DISOBEDIENT PROPHET IN THE SHIP
Jonah 1:2,3; Psalm 73:1-21; Ecclesiastes 8:11-12; Galatians 6:7,8; Hosea 8:7; 10:12; Job 4:8; Proverbs 22:8
God’s word came to Jonah: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me” (Jonah 1:2).
Nineveh was great in population, pride, perversion and pollution. It did not merit applause and commendation but criticism and condemnation. God sent Jonah to prophesy judgement against it. If your action is to come up before God, what will be interpreted to mean – godly living or rebellious lifestyle?
It is not sufficient to ARISE, it is important that we go in the direction of God’s bidding: “BUT Jonah rose up (not to go to Nineveh) to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3). Jonah decided to go in the opposite direction of where God wanted him. Rather than be God’s ambassador to Nineveh, he became a runaway prophet to Tarshish.
Jonah “went down to Joppa” a shipping port in Israel and “luckily” for him “he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3).
Notice three things that seem like “God’s provision ”:
(1)Jonah found a ship going to his self-appointed destination
(2)There was available space for him in the ship
(3)He had money to pay his fare
Everything seems to be working well for Jonah. “If God was not with him, why did things work so well” some ignorant person is likely to comment. Prosperity alone is not an index of divine support. The wicked sometimes do “prosper” (Psalm 73:1-21; Ecclesiastes 8:11-12). However the law of sowing and reaping operates perfectly in this arena (Hosea 8:7; 10:12; Job 4:8; Proverbs 22:8; Galatians 6:7,8).
Jonah the disobedient prophet “went DOWN into it (the ship)” (Jonah 1:3). He joined the jolly crowd who were expecting smooth and pleasant sailing to Tarshish.
DEFINITE PROBLEM ON THE SEA
Jonah 1:3; 1 Samuel 15:23; Isaiah 1:19,20; Jeremiah 20:1-6; Psalm 119:67; 107:17; 73:3,5,18-20; Proverbs 1:24-33
When we are disobedient, things may seem to be working for sometime. However we should prepare for God’s “visitation”. Jonah would have rejoiced that he has at last put this mandate to go and prophesy against Nineveh behind him. However we are told: “BUT the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken” (Jonah 1:4).
Even though there was calm at the harbour, the ship sailed out in peace but into troubled waters. Great storm and tempest hit the ship on the sea (Psalm 73:3,5,18-20; 1 Thessalonians 5:3).
To disobey God and do your own thing is to expect and experience crisis along life’s pathway, great storm on life’s sea and a turbulent voyage. You may decide to run away from the presence of the Lord, you will definitely face problem on the sea.
Disobedience or rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and will be surely punished (1 Samuel 15:23; Isaiah 1:19,20; Jeremiah 20:1-6; Psalm 119:67; 107:17; Proverbs 1:24-33).
DESPERATE PRAYER OF SINNERS
Jonah 1:5; 1 Kings 18:26-29; Psalm 115:4-8; 86:7; 81:77:1,2; 50:15; 20:1; Isaiah 65:24; 59:1,2; James 5:13.
“Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god” (Jonah 1:5). The prayer they failed to pray at home, now they are praying on the sea. The prayer they failed to pray when things were good, now they are praying in times of crisis. Now they were crying and praying to lifeless and impotent gods and idols. Here we see the desperate prayer of sinners just as exactly as those by the prophets of Baal in the time of Elijah (1 Kings 18:26-29; Psalm 115:4-8). Only God has guaranteed to answer prayers in times of trouble (Psalm 86:7; 81:77:1,2; 50:15; 20:1; Isaiah 65:24).
Better to pray today “lead us not into temptation” than to be shouting for deliverance tomorrow when you are roasting in fire. Rather than having to panic for their lives, these people should have prayed with the following points before ever setting up on this journey:
(1)That no disobedient Jonah will board your ship and use it as an escape vessel from the presence of the Lord
(2)That your ship would have left the harbour by the time such a Jonah arrives at the harbour.
(3)That your ship will not be going in the intended direction chosen by a disobedient Jonah.
(4)If your ship is still in the harbour when Jonah arrives, it will already be full thereby having no space left for Jonah.
(5)If your ship is still in the harbour when Jonah arrives and there is even available space, that such a Jonah will never have the money to pay for the fare.
DISHEARTENING PERIL OF SUPPLIES
Jonah 1:5; Jeremiah 20:4,6; 1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chronicles 20:37; Acts 27:18; Ecclesiastes 9:18; Amos 7:16,17
“and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them” (Jonah 1:5). These people not only suffered emotionally and physically but also materially as a result of Jonah being onboard their ship. They had to throw goods and merchandise into the sea to make the ship light (Jonah 1:5; Acts 27:18). Businessmen and merchants among them lost all their goods – this equates to the loss of business capital. Possibly there were people relocating from Joppa and surrounding to Tarshish and all their properties were in the ship. That meant the loss of lifetime savings and personal belongings.
A lot of material resources were lost because of one disobedient Jonah. What a sad and disheartening experience! This is indeed a case of one sinner destroying much good (Ecclesiastes 9:18). Travelling with a disobedient Jonah will always result in many-sided losses (Amos 7:16,17; Jeremiah 20:4,6).