Tuesday Devo
Scripture:
Jonah 1:4-6
4 But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. 5 Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship.
But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. 6 So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.”
4 But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. 5 Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship.
But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. 6 So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.”
Commentary:
1:4–16 Jonah and the Pagan Sailors. This episode highlights Jonah’s encounter with pagan sailors and raises the question, Who fears the Lord—Jonah or the pagans? The key repeated word is “fear”: at the beginning and end the sailors “fear” (vv. 5, 16); in the middle Jonah claims to “fear” the Lord (v. 9) while the sailors actually fear (v. 10a).
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1687.
1:4–5 Hurled is used four times in this episode (vv. 4, 5, 12, 15). Just as God hurled the great wind, the sailors hurled the cargo. cried out. The sailors pray, evidently believing that a divine being could come to their aid. had gone down. In contrast to the sailors, Jonah goes down below deck, taking yet another step closer to death (see note on v. 3).
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1687.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1687.
1:4–5 Hurled is used four times in this episode (vv. 4, 5, 12, 15). Just as God hurled the great wind, the sailors hurled the cargo. cried out. The sailors pray, evidently believing that a divine being could come to their aid. had gone down. In contrast to the sailors, Jonah goes down below deck, taking yet another step closer to death (see note on v. 3).
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1687.
Questions:
The storm wasn’t meant to destroy Jonah, it was actually mercy. God loved Jonah too much to let him keep drifting farther and farther away without stepping in. The storm was not God paying Jonah back; it was God bringing Jonah back. Sometimes the most uncomfortable seasons of our lives was the very places where God gets our attention, exposes what’s been hidden, and begins to pull us toward healing.
- Can you think of a past season that felt painful, frustrating, or confusing at the time, but looking back now you can see how God used it to wake you up, redirect you, humble you, or draw you closer to Himself?
- What changes in your heart when you stop seeing hardship as proof that God is against you and start considering that He may actually be pursuing you through it? How would that change the way you pray about your current situation?
- Is there something God may be trying to bring to the surface right now; an attitude, habit, wound, fear, or area of compromise that you’ve been avoiding? What might happen if, instead of resisting the interruption, you allowed God to use it to heal and restore you?
Prayer Topics:
- That God would help you recognize His presence and purpose in the middle of difficult seasons.
- That God would replace fear and resentment with trust in His love and discipline.
- That God would give you humility to receive His correction and courage to respond with surrender.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
4. Can a person be good enough to go to heaven? No. Because Jesus rose from the dead, proving He is God, I believe a person is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
(John 1:12, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 4:1-25, 5:1-2, 6-11, 6:23, 10:1-4, 10:9; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Titus 3:4-7)
(John 1:12, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 4:1-25, 5:1-2, 6-11, 6:23, 10:1-4, 10:9; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Titus 3:4-7)
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