Storms Save
2 Corinthians 4:11 NIV
"For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed through our mortal bodies."
I was reading the book of Jonah this morning, which I've grown to love over the years. For a minute, though, I sat and reflected on chapter 1 verses 15-16, when the men finally decide to throw Jonah overboard after their failed attempt to run from God themselves. You see, these men who were all on this boat with Jonah worshipped different Gods. They knew that the storm had arisen out of God's anger towards Jonah for fleeing from him, but out of fear of death, they too chose to try to row the boat out of the storm instead of simply tossing Jonah overboard as he told them to do. However, once they did decide that their only hope of survival would be to throw him into the sea, the storm ceased. The men were so amazed at what had happened that they not only believed but offered sacrifices and made vows to the Lord our God. In other words, they converted from their gods to our God.
Had Jonah not been running from God, he would've never met these men. Who, because they handed Jonah over to what they thought was his inevitable death, believed. Because of God's anger with Jonah, these men stood as witnesses to His wrath and might. Similarly, through our obedience, God uses our lives as a testament to the wonders He can and will do. In this life, we will be handed over to death time and time again. It is through our struggles, hardships, and challenges that God will work through us to show others that He is God, and He is faithful. As the story goes, Jonah did not die. God had another plan for his life. He still needed him to prophecy to the people of Nineveh. Likewise, God will deliver us from the storms that we are sailing through, but along the way, His work in our lives will help round up new believers in Christ, so that one day we may see Heaven crowded!
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