Jonah: When God Sends a Storm
📖 “But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea…” — Jonah 1:4 (NKJV)
Jonah didn’t misunderstand God. He wasn’t unsure about his calling.
He just didn’t like it.
God said, “Arise, go to Nineveh…”
Jonah said, “No thanks,” and ran the other way.
This wasn’t fear—it was flat-out rebellion. Jonah didn’t want Nineveh spared. He didn’t want them forgiven. He hated them. He knew God would be merciful, and he didn’t want mercy for people he couldn’t stand.
So he fled. Booked a ship. Headed to Tarshish like he could outrun the voice of God.
But when Jonah ran, God didn’t chase him with silence.
He chased him with a storm.
“But the Lord sent out a great wind…”
That one line says everything.
The storm wasn’t from Satan. It wasn’t from sin.
It was from God.
A holy disruption. A divine intervention.
A perfectly timed, unavoidable wake-up call.
Jonah’s rebellion didn’t just affect him. His disobedience threatened the lives of everyone on that boat. That’s the thing about sin—it’s never private. It always has fallout. Always spills over onto the innocent. Always causes someone else to wonder, “Why is this happening?”
But even as the boat rocked and the crew panicked, Jonah knew.
He said, “I serve the God who made the sea.”
He knew who was behind the wind.
And here’s the grace in it all:
God had already prepared a fish.
The fish wasn’t judgment. It was protection.
It was messy. It was uncomfortable. It stank. But it kept him alive and brought him back.
That’s what God’s disruptions often feel like:
Unpleasant. Inconvenient. Humbling.
But merciful.
He’ll interrupt your plans to protect your calling.
He’ll break your boat before He lets you self-destruct.
🙏 So here’s the question for today:
- Are you running from something you’ve been clearly called to do?
- Have others started to feel the weight of your decisions?
- Could it be that the storm isn’t meant to crush you—but to bring you home?
Jonah’s story reminds us that God doesn’t give up just because we do.
He’ll shake the sea. He’ll send the storm. He’ll even prepare the fish.
Because the call doesn’t get canceled just because you ran from it.
He still wants you.
Storm, scars, and all.
📌 Closing Line:
“When God doesn’t have your attention, He’ll disturb what does.”
Just ask Jonah.
