JONAH 1:7-9 - JONAH'S THE CULPRIT

God gave Jonah clear instructions 

to go one way, 

but he was determined 

to run the other way. 

But God would have

the final say!

Jonah 1:7-9

JONAH’S THE CULPRIT

Jonah 1:7 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.

Susie: These pagan sailors did not believe in happenstance. They believed a catastrophe of this magnitude must be because someone’s god was punishing them.

Susan: Casting lots was a common way of discerning the truth of a matter. The Jews strongly believed God controlled the outcome.

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:33)

Susie: Jonah was shown to be at the center of their calamity.

Susan: So the sailors began interrogating Jonah.

Jonah 1:8 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?

Susie: These questions may have been shouted by several of them at once. They bombarded Jonah with these questions because they were puzzled about why his God was causing the storm.

Susan: It was almost as if Jonah stood before a verbal firing squad!

Jonah 1:9 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.

Susie: Jonah answered truthfully that he was a Hebrew, a Jew. But wait! NOW he fears the Lord? Why did that fear, that reverence, not keep him from trying to escape from an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful, everywhere-present God?

Susan: Jonah was comfortable back in Israel, and God was asking him not only to leave his comfort zone but to go from home base directly into the enemies’ camp. In his humanity, his actions were out of self-preservation, or so he thought.

Susie: He had a lapse of faith, forgetting that we are never safer than when we are in the center of God’s will. He struggled with the notion that the Ninevites did not deserve the opportunity to repent as well.

Susan: God keeps us safe as we are cooperating with His divine design for our lives.

Susie: However, we must remember that “safe” may mean that He delivers us to the safety of heaven. Martyrdom does not mean that God lost control for a moment. I remember reading in The Cross and the Switchblade that when confronted by a knife wielding Nicky Cruz, minister David Wilkerson said something like, “If you cut me into a thousand tiny pieces, each piece will cry out ‘Jesus loves you!’” If the Lord had allowed his death, David would have still been preserved by the Lord.

Susan: The stormy sea was Jonah’s first light-bulb moment that the Lord was in control of all of nature—the wind, the sea, the land, and me. Even as a fleeing prophet, he declared this truth to the pagan sailors.

QUESTIONS

1.        Did the sailors believe that the storm was just an unfortunate circumstance?

2.        What did the sailor’s do to determine who was the cause of the problem?

3.        How did Jonah respond when he was determined to be the one being punished?

4.        What truth did Jonah proclaim about God in his answers to the sailors’ questions?

5.        Does this truth impact how you face trials? Explain.