Digging Deeper – God Uses Our Storms to Save Others
15 Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! 16 The sailors were awestruck by the LORD’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.
Jonah 1:15-16 (NLT)
GOD USES OUR STORMS TO SAVE OTHERS
This is an often-overlooked part of the story: the sailors on the ship headed to Tarshish came to know the Lord! These men believed in “little g gods.” But despite Jonah’s selfishness and blatant disregard for their safety, God still showed up—not just to claim Jonah, but to reveal Himself to them!
You’ve heard the phrase, “God doesn’t waste anything.” This is proof! In the middle of Jonah’s disobedience, we find a ship full of pagan sailors—men who didn’t know God but were so absolutely amazed by His might that they abandoned their gods and turned to Him.
This should be a sobering wake-up call for us. There are people everywhere—all around us, every day—who don’t believe in God. Or if they do believe there is a God, they certainly don’t have a relationship with Jesus. And get this: He loves them too! So much so that He will reveal Himself to them through someone else’s trials—perhaps even yours!
Let’s be mindful of this! When you are disobedient, you put others in harm’s way. But that also opens the door for the Lord to do His masterful, saving work! And as we see in Jonah’s story, that might just mean you’re thrown overboard in the process.
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.
