Are we ‘SPIRITUALLY INSENSITIVE’ to our SURROUNDINGS?
September
25 Bible Reading: Jonah Chapters 1-4
Are we ‘SPIRITUALLY INSENSITIVE’ to our SURROUNDINGS?
But the Lord sent out a great wind on the
sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to
be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his
god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the
load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down,
and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him, and said to him, "What do
you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us,
so that we may not perish." (Jonah 1:4-6)
God sent
Jonah to preach to Nineveh, the capital city of Israel’s prime enemy, Assyria.
In disobedience, Jonah took a ship for Tarshish as he foolishly believed that
changing locations would remove him from the convicting presence of the Lord
and His call. The Bible scholar H. C. Woodring comments on Jonah’s rebellion in
the following words:
“God wanted him to go to Nineveh, 500
miles northeast of Palestine. Instead of going east, Jonah went 2000 miles to
the west. God wished Jonah to take an overland trip via the Fertile Crescent.
Instead he took a distasteful sea voyage (the Jews hated the sea). God sent him
to the greatest metropolis of the day. Instead Jonah headed for a remote
trading post on the fringes of civilization. The Lord wished to go with His
prophet. Instead Jonah tried to flee from the presence and power of God.”
Throughout
the book of Jonah, God shows Himself sovereign over every aspect of creation as
he is the Creator and Lord of the sea (Gen. 1:10, 21; Ex. 14:21; Mark 4:41).
God responded to Jonah’s rebellion by sending a wind that threatened to destroy
the ship. On the other hand, Jonah was so sure he had averted God’s will that
he went to sleep down in the ship’s hold. As Jonah slept soundly, the sailors
fought desperately to keep the ship from sinking in the storm. After Jonah was
discovered, these heathen sailors urged him to call on his God to ‘take notice’ so they wouldn’t perish.
Jonah
thought he had a choice. However, he forgot that the will of God is not an
option: it is an obligation and an
opportunity. When we run from God’s will, we always go down (vv. 3, 5, 15,
17; 2:6). We may end up sacrificing safety for danger and peace for a storm. When
we are out of fellowship with our God, it causes problems not only for ourselves,
but also for those around us. In the case of Jonah, his actions caused immense
problems to the heathen sailors. A
believer out of fellowship with God can cause a great deal of trouble!
The pagan
sailors reveal more character than does the prophet of God. While Jonah was
sleeping, they were crying out to their gods, and they did their best to save
him (1:13). Jonah was a Jewish prophet of God (1:9) who came from a rich heritage
of God’s faithfulness, while the pagan sailors did not know Jehovah God but
worshiped many false gods (1:5). Jonah
was spiritually insensitive and was heading in the wrong direction away
from God (1:3, 5), while the sailors were
more spiritually sensitive as they prayed (1:5), and later sacrificed and
took vows (1:16). Jonah was indifferent toward God’s will despite knowing Him,
while the sailors were concerned before God in spite of little or no knowledge
of Him. Jonah’s crisis of faith
contrasted sharply with the sailors’ misdirected but sincere faith!
Like Jonah, are we also spiritually insensitive to our
surroundings? Are we behaving like
Nero who was fiddling while Rome was burning? Are we so other-worldly that we seem to have our heads stuck inside the
sand, and do not care (or, are not aware) about what is happening in the world around us? If we are in the
same state as Jonah, we need to turn back to God as Jonah did through the
following steps: confession (1:9) and
repentance (2:1, 9). God loves us too
much to let us run away; therefore, He disciplines us (Heb. 12:1–11), and He
keeps working on us until we submit to Him.
