Overboard

“Get rid of…….” (Ephesians 4:31)

We mostly read about what happened to Jonah in the bible from Jonah’s perspective.  But I want us to take a different look at what happened out on that raging sea.  Let’s look at it from the perspective of the crew who were on that ship headed for Tarshish.  It must have been one whale (excuse the pun) of a boat ride for them also.  Jonah chapter 1 tells us that “the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose, that the ship threatened to break up.”  This was no small craft advisory like we get on Lake Erie.  This was a full-blown storm of epic proportions. 

But the real problem this ship’s crew had was not found in the tempest and gales raging in the waves.  The real problem this crew had was found in the passenger sleeping in the bottom of their boat.  His name was Jonah.  And Jonah knew he was the problem.  However, because the crew did not, they decided to cast lots and see who was responsible for putting them in the raging tempest.  I find it interesting that the crew knew there was something or someone who was responsible for the danger they were in, and that it needed to be dealt with.  They discovered who the culprit was when the lot fell on Jonah.  So, at Jonah’s own request they threw him overboard.  As soon as they did, the raging sea grew calm.

Do you find your life in a raging storm right now?  Are you plagued by problems that you can’t seem to overcome?  Are you trying frantically to get rid of your difficulties by juggling one solution after another?  Hoping there is something you can do that will take away your troubles.  The real problem may not always be the difficulty in front of you.  It may be a problem that is embedded much deeper.  Perhaps the problem isn’t that everything in your life is going wrong – but that there is something in your life that is not right.  Something in your life that is not in God’s will.  That is not God’s best for you.  And until you deal with that one thing, until you throw it overboard in your life, you are not going to see a solution to the other problems you are experiencing.

Is it possible there is something in your life that is your Jonah right now?  Just reading this, you may have a good idea what it is.  Or if you don’t, and you may need to go before the Lord and ask him to reveal it to you.  And when he does, you then need to ask yourself if you are prepared to get rid of it, and once again invite God’s best into your heart and life.

What might YOUR Jonah be???

                                                Darlene