He answered them,

"I'm a Hebrew. 

I worship the Lord, 

the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land."

Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, 

"What have you done?"

The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord's presence because he had told them. 

So they said to him, "What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?"

For the sea was getting worse and worse. 

He answered them, 

"Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I'm to blame for this great storm that is against you."

Jonah 1:9-12 CSB

Are you waiting for the highlight of the story?

Where's the whale and 3 days and vomiting Jonah up on the beach?

While we wait for that the author makes this outrageous claim that the storm, everyone's lives being at risk was just because of Jonah! 

Does that mean that all bad things happen because of someone not being obedient to God? 

Who is that person?  

If we could chuck them overboard then everything would be all right?

That doesn't gell with what Jesus taught, or what Paul taught, so this story must be about something else. 

Could this story be pointing to Jesus?

Jonah in the last line of this passage says that the storm is "against you" - the sailors, not us, but you. 

Sailors who all worshipped other gods. 

Sailors who had heard of Yahweh, yet weren't following Him. 

Maybe this is not a children's story about a whale, but a story to help us see something of who God is, where we are with Him, and the hope that we have in Him.

#jonah

#somethingtochewon