Daily Devotional for Friday, July 24

Jonah in the Midst of the Sea

“So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows,” Jonah 1:15, 16.
One of the worst storms I have ever been in was on a river in the Amazon region of Peru. It was not that the storm was so out of the ordinary for the hard rains naturally occuring in this region, but what the rain did to the condition of the water in the river. We saw the rain coming like a wall towards us and once it hit us the pretty calm river turned into what seemed like a raging sea. As fast as we could, we traveled to the river’s edge to escape the potential danger. It was amazing the power of the wind and water and the danger that it posed to us.
As this storm had come about from the Lord when Jonah had fled from His presence, the others on the ship called out to their gods because they were in fear of their lives (Jonah 1:4-6). Jonah knew that he was the cause of the storm and told them to throw him into the sea (Jonah 1:12). Once they threw him in the sea, it became calm and the men feared the Lord (Jonah 1:15, 16). Like a similar storm that Jesus and His disciples were in, “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39). The difference here was that nobody had to be put overboard for the sea to be calm, but it was still the Lord who calmed the raging sea.

REFLECTION
Jesus is the answer to the raging seas in your life. Do not be like Jonah, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17).

Tim Chambers