Digging Deeper – The Unseen Cost of Sin
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.” 7 Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. 8 “Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?” 9 Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 10 The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the LORD. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned. 11 And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?” 12 “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.” 13 Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. 14 Then they cried out to the LORD, Jonah’s God. “O LORD,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O LORD, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.” 15 Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once!
Jonah 1:5-15 (NLT)
THE UNSEEN COST OF SIN
It’s one thing to face the consequences of your sin; it’s far worse when others in your wake must endure hardship as a result of your decisions. This is where we find Jonah at this point in the story. Interestingly, he doesn’t seem distressed at all—he’s sleeping like a baby while the sailors aboard the ship are fighting for their lives!
This is, unfortunately, something we all tend to overlook when we choose the path of sinful disobedience. We may rationalize our actions and behaviors, even planning ahead for the time when it catches up with us. However, we don’t have a contingency plan for the havoc we cause in others’ lives. This is nearly always the most painful repercussion we face—seeing others suffer for our wrongdoing.
Amazingly, these sailors—despite knowing Jonah’s defiance is causing their immediate peril—try to find a way to avoid having to throw Jonah overboard! They put themselves in further danger by attempting to row toward land. “But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it.” (v. 13)
Realizing the futility of their efforts to row ashore, they begin to plead with the Lord for their lives! Not only that, but they also ask God not to hold it against them if Jonah dies when they toss him off the boat.
When Jonah high-tailed it as far west as he could get from Nineveh, he was only thinking of himself. He never, for a moment, thought that he would put dozens of innocent people at death’s door because of his disobedience. But that’s what sin does. It only shows us the part of the outcome that appeals to us in the moment. We don’t get a glimpse of the wreckage it causes.
The greatest deterrent to sin is the realization that we create separation from God; we break community with Him. Perhaps the next-best preventative measure is to consider the pain we will cause others when we don’t choose God’s best.
Ultimately, if we live in such a way that we are putting God and others first (the two Greatest Commandments), we win—and we have peace of mind knowing God’s hand will be on us along the way.
C.A. Phillips serves as Communications Pastor and Director of Men’s Groups at NorthStar Church. He is a graduate of the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, and he loves the Dawgs and the Atlanta Braves. He has two (grown) boys and lives in Kennesaw with his wife, Amy, and their German Shepherd, Abby.
