Daily Devotions

Jonah 1:1-9 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4 But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

Almost everyone knows the account of Jonah the prophet of God who thought he could run from the Lord. Jonah found out that the God who created all, knows the very thoughts and the intents of the heart of man, knows all about His creation physically as well and where man is at all times both spiritually and location, Jonah could not run from the presence of God. But as the account unfolds and the ship is in this great storm notice what the sailors had to do concerning the identity of Jonah, they had to ask who he was and what he was. (Verse 8) Reading this chapter last week the Lord brought this to my intention for the first time, Jonah was a Hebrew, a prophet, a Christian if you would in disguise. The sailors should never have had to asked Jonah who he was, they should have known. Why? Because a prophet of God represents God, Jonah should have made himself known by his actions and his words. But Jonah was silent just like many Christians are silent today. God wanted a voice in the world through Jonah and God wants a voice in the world through the believer in Christ today. Ask yourself this morning this questions; do others know who and what I am, or am I a mystery just as Jonah was?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013 at 5:44 am and is filed under Daily Devotions. You can skip to the end and leave a response.