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We come to Jonah Chapter 1 and verse 4, where all is well! That is how it looks, but it certainly is not.

I am away to Joppa – no Jerusalem for me – and no Nineveh for me.

I have found a ship and I have paid the fare, and off we sail. We?

God is coming too and he did not expect that.

There were various situations he did not expect, and Jonah is going to experience them over these next weeks.

Jonah is called by God and chosen by God – he is a prophet of God, having received a Word from God – having known something of the blessing that comes from knowing God and being used by God.

And, when he is commissioned, he runs away!

He suffers as a consequence, and others suffer too.

God has to rescue him and deliver him via “a prepared fish”, and Jonah is called again, and not only does he have to come back to where he once was, but he has to go to where God initially called him to go and preach and minister.

But let us not rush too far ahead. Instead of preaching repentance, faith, and obedience, Jonah decides to go on this Mediterranean cruise.

There is a storm. Ah, he did not expect that.

Disobedience leads to distress.

God can let you go so far at times, and it can be, for some, wounding and upsetting, as they arrive on the brink of total disaster – and some never return, of course – but God intervenes here.

There can come a point sometimes after much unnecessary and avoidable suffering, that a man of God has to acknowledge God’s Lordship – and for us that is the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Jonah must have been thinking that he is now safely away from the presence of the Lord – away from Jerusalem – away from the Temple – but God sends a great wind.

If you are on the brink of doing something dangerous – or daft – in disobedience – do not do it. Break it off.

Come to your senses. Remember that man who ran away from home, and only when he was feeding pigs with no real food for himself did he come to his senses. Some have to be in real trouble physically and spiritually before they come to their senses.

God’s man can to try run away and go his own way, but here the Lord intervenes. That does not always happen.

The storm can be of the Lord!

Others often suffer because God’s people are sinning.

Others can be infected by the sin of others – splashed and soiled and dirtied.

Jonah is asleep. Sin can make you sleep.

Many Christians are asleep to all that is going on around them – politically – economically – morally – spiritually.

What a picture – the rebellious church asleep in the midst of a storm – and you do not know you are asleep until you wake up!

The church can make decisions and do things when asleep which she would not otherwise make when awake!

Such circumstances can make us stop and think and reconsider – and repent and return and be restored and renewed – and even revived.

"Word from Scotland" from Sandy Shaw

Not Many are Thirsty for More of God If You Are, Come and Drink!