God's will...a whale of a ride

Jonah 1: The Great Storm
4The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. 6So the captain approached him and said, "How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish."…

Matthew 8:23-27

²³ When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. ²⁵ And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” ²⁶ He *said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. 

When we look at the two accounts above we see two men sleeping in boats in the midst of great storms. Their circumstances were completely different. Jonah was running from the will of God. The sleep he slept was not a calm peaceful sleep. It is a restless and even a wrestling sleep we sleep when we try to run from God.

As for Jesus, He was centered in the will of God. The text in chapter 8 of Matthew begins with three seperate accounts of Jesus healing people and additionally He cast evil spirits out of many and healed all who were ill. Jesus peace and rest was found not in a restful slumber, but in walking in the will of His Father. Jesus found not only His rest in doing the Fathers will, He also was fed and sustained in fulfilling His call.

John 4:31-34  Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” ³⁴ Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.

So how do we get from where we are, if we are wrestling instead of resting. Jesus says :

Matthew 11:29  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The picture Jesus gives us here is this, In Jesus time fields were worked or loads were moved by beasts of burden, often by a pair of oxen. When training a younger animal it would be paired with an older more experienced one. It wouldn't take long for the trainee to learn that it was easier to follow in step with the leader than to struggle and pull in a different direction. So too for us, it is easier and far more productive and restfull to walk in step with God.

Let's go back to the Jonah story for just a moment.

 ⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” ⁹ He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”¹⁰ Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. ¹¹ So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” ¹³ However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. ¹⁴ Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.”¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.¹⁷ And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

There are two things to see in this portion of the account. First when Jonah finally accepted the fact that his circumstance was caused by his disobedience in running from God and he submitted himself fully to God's will, God calmed the storm. The second thing we need to see then in this account is that once we come to the point of submitting to God's will, the way back into God's will might not be the way we envision it. Remember it is the path that we have chosen that has brought us to where we are. God could have allowed Jonah to complete the ride to the next town then find a new way to get to his destination. But God had a different way in mind. Jonah found himself in the belly of a whale. I would venture to say that in those three days God had Jonah's full attention. He prepared Jonah to fulfill his purpose and made sure there was no more turning in Jonah. Then we see God's amazing and miraculous ability to work His will in our lives. It turned out for Jonah that traveling in the belly of the whale was the fastest way to get where he was going. God used that "great fish" to deliver Jonah exactly where he needed to be.

So wherever we find ourselves if we are resisting or running from God's will, we should take heart. Our first step is to submit, to take His yoke upon us. In doing that there is a submission not only to the will of God but also to His way. We are not fully submitted if we still want to give the directions. God know's the best way back to His will for our life. If it seems that His way takes longer it could be that He still has work to do in us or it could be that He knows the obstacles we would face if we took the path of our own choosing. We need just to trust Him.

I would rather be in the belly of a whale with God than anywhere of my own choosing without Him.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, I choose today to submit to You and your will for my life. I acknowledge that even as I have surrendered partialy I have tried to maintain control over the direction and path I take. Today I take your yoke upon me Lord Jesus, eagerly awaiting the path You choose for us (You and I God)  and anxious for all that we will accomplish together. If my choices require that you place me in the belly of a whale to get me where I need to be, I will praise you in that place too. Thank You.