Lessons From the Men That Threw Jonah into the Sea!

Have you ever read the book of Jonah? Many of us are aware of what happened. The full account can be found in Jonah chapters one to four.
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In summary; Jonah was told by God to go to Nineveh and warn them of their wrong doings. Instead of Jonah obeying the Lord he decided to flee and go somewhere else. He found some men in a ship, paid the fare and decided to travel with him. 

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Because of Jonah, God sent a wind and they almost all lost their lives. After casting lots, they found out that Jonah was the reason they were having a dangerous time. So, they prayed and asked that God does not require Jonah’s blood from their hands and cast Jonah into the sea.

The moment Jonah was cast into the sea, the sea stopped raging ( Jonah 1;15). However, God had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.

Jonah stayed in the belly’s fish for three days and three nights (Jonah 1; 17); he prayed, God spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah unto the dry land then Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to where he was sent Nineveh to warn them. The people heeded the warning and judgement was withheld.

The men that prayed before they threw Jonah into the sea would not have known what happened to Jonah.

This is the men’s prayer:
“14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging” (Jonah 1; 14-15 KJV). 

They would not have known that God prepared a fish to swallow Jonah. All they would have known is that they threw Jonah into the sea.

Suppose one of them kept worrying “O we have thrown someone into the sea” the person could easily live with unnecessary guilt.

So, what can we learn from this?

When we pray, we must believe that we receive even when it appears we don’t see the results. We must cast our cares upon the Lord and trust in the faithfulness of God.
Have you asked the Lord for something that you cannot verify in the natural? Just trust the Lord. The Lord is faithful.

I remember reading an account a few years ago. This lady had prayed that her husband gets saved. He subsequently had an accident and passed away. As afar as she was concerned, her husband was not saved. She got discouraged.

A few years later, she met a man, and he told her that just before the accident, he had met her husband and had led him to Christ. It was the same day that he had the accident.
There was no way for her to know except to trust the Lord.

She had to repent for her unnecessary discouragement. Just as the men that had thrown Jonah into the sea did not know that Jonah was saved, neither did this woman that had been praying for her husband knew that he got saved before passing on.

God is faithful and He does answer our prayers.

Let us rest in the faithfulness of the Lord!
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Bisi Oladipupo© 27th Dec 2022

 

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