God who speaks to the believers even through the non-believers

“All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.  The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish” (Jonah 1:5-6).

After I preached the Word of God Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 under the heading “They have no comforter”, I had a bible study on Jonah 1:1-6 with my church elder and the deacons.  Although I already meditated and proclaimed it several times, I had blessed time studying the passage again.  Since the indwelling Spirit gave me some insight to the passage, I am writing down what the Spirit has taught me tonight during the church leaders’ bible study.  The insight that I got was that God even uses the non-believers to speak to us, the disobedient believers, again.

In Jonah 1:5-6, God sent the storm of correction to the disobedient prophet Jonah that the ship on which Jonah was about to break up (v. 4).  And God spoke to Jonah again through the Gentile sailors who were worshiping their gods (idols) and the captain of the ship so that Jonah might have second chance to obey God’s command of “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it” (1:2).

First, God used the non-believer sailors.

God used non-believer sailors to give his servant Prophet Jonah the opportunity to repent and turn to God in the midst of a ship that was about to break up.  When God sent the storm of correction to the disobedient prophet Jonah so the ship that he aboarded was about to break (v. 4).  So the non-believer Gentile sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god (v. 5).  But in such a crisis, Jonah didn’t cry out to God.  Instead, he fell into a deep sleep below deck (v. 5).  Since Jonah was God’s servant, shouldn’t he cry out to God by seeing the non-believer sailors crying out to their own gods?  Shouldn’t he realize his sin of disobeying God’s command and repent his sin when the ship he aboarded was about to break up due to the storm that God sent?  But Jonah was asleep.  While he was sleeping deeply, the non-believer sailors threw the cargo into the sea in order to lighten the ship (v. 5).  What is interesting here is that as God ‘threw’ a great wind on the sea in order to make his disobedient servant Jonah to repent his sin and to obey God’s command (v. 4), the sailors “threw” the cargo into the sea (v. 5).  But Jonah fell into deep sleep even in the midst of such crisis.  Who resemble more like God’s doing?  Was it God’s servant Jonah who was sleeping or the non-believer sailors who was throwing the cargo into the sea?  It wasn’t Jonah.  It was the sailors who resembled God’s doing.  Later in the story, the sailors cast lots to find out who was responsible for the calamity and the lot fell on Jonah (v. 7).  So Jonah confessed that “I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you” (v. 12).  And he told them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea” (v. 12).  Jonah realized that the reason God threw a storm in the sea was to throw Jonah himself into the sea.

Second, God used the non-believer captain.

God, not only used the non-believer sailors, but also he used the non-believer captain of the ship to remind Jonah that he was disobeying God's command (mission).  God used the non-believer captain of the ship and his words to Jonah, “How can you sleep?  Get up and call on your god!  Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish” (v. 6), not only to wake him up but also to remind him the God’s command of “Arise” by echoing the God’s command in his heart (v. 2).  To Jonah who was in deep sleep, the captain’s word “Get up” was a good opportunity for Jonah to remember the God’s command “Arise, go to Nineveh …” (v. 2).  Also, when the captain said “call on your god!” to Jonah (v. 6), God gave Jonah a good opportunity for him to pray to God and repent his sin.  However, Jonah didn’t pray to God.  In the end, Jonah prayed to God when he went down into the belly of the great fish that went down to the depths of the sea (ch. 2).  Don’t we see this image of Jonah in us?

                Jonah’s God is our God.  And while our God is speaking to us, we often have insensitivity to the Word of God and discernment of the Word, just as Jonah is insensitive and indiscreet.  As a result, we often disobey God's word, like Jonah, and often receive disciplines from God.  The problem is that even when we are subjected to God's discipline, we do not realize our sin of our disobedience and we are also asleep deeply in spirit, just as Jonah fell asleep deeply under the deck.  We are spiritually sleeping even in the midst of “a great storm” in our lives because we are spiritually insensible and indifferent.  As a result, we do not hear God’s voice.  But since God is faithful even to such sinners like us, he doesn’t give up upon us.  Rather, he speaks to us again and again.  He does so even through the non-believers around us.  God speaks to us again even through the non-believers’ actions and images that resemble Jesus.  The reason is so that we can repent our sins and return to God.  God uses the non-believers around us to echo his commands in our hearts.  What should we do?  We must listen to the voice of God even through the non-believers around us.  And we must obey God and fulfill God's will.  This is because God's mission is our mission.