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Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah's God. 
"O Lord, they pleaded, don't make us die for this man's sin. 
And don't hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons."

Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! 

The sailors were awestruck by the Lord's great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.
Jonah 1:14-16 NLT
This part of the story seems outrageous! 
God brings a storm, forces people to act against not only their culture and their profession, but also their humanity, and biff Jonah to his death. 
This can't be about what it seems on the surface because that's not who God is. God doesn't ask us to biff people to their death and then our lives will be calm, the storms will stop. 
If we read this as a story, a parable, what is it saying?
Maybe this: 
- that God is at work, that we don't always understand or get what He is up to. 
- the sailors who seemed so embedded in their own religion saw God for who he is and chose to follow Him. People can shift their allegiance.
Maybe Yahweh is asking me to trust Him even when I don't understand Him, that life is not how I think it should be, to keep stepping forward in faith in Him.
#monday
#Godsgym
#jonah
#somethingtochewon

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