#DailyDevotion When You Try The Measure The Severity Of Your Sin
#DailyDevotion When You Try The Measure The Severity Of Your Sin Jon. 6The captain of the sailors went to him. “How can you sleep?” he asked. “Get up, call on your god. Perhaps he will think of us, and we won’t drown.” 7Then they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots to see who has brought this disaster on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8“Please tell us,” they asked him, “who has brought this disaster on us? What is your work? Where do you come from? What is your country? And which people do you come from?” The captain of the ship, like the apostles in their boat with Jesus, questions Jonah as to how he can sleep in the midst of this terrible storm. Even though Jonah is in disobedience to this particular command from the LORD, he is resting no doubt in the certainty of God's promises and his keeping of the commandments in general. I do not think the LORD Jesus will condemn a man for not accepting a call into the ministry though He may mightily push him in that direction. I do think it would be better for such a man to answer that call positively. The captain commands Jonah to pray to his God. Perhaps his God will listen and calm the storm. The captain is the image of American civil religion, where it doesn't matter which god you call upon or how you do it, as long as you are doing your part. I can only imagine how our military chaplains must shudder at times by request from their commanding officers for generic prayers to a generic god. Thankfully, they faithfully call upon the God of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ. The storm is such a one the sailors believe someone on the ship must be to blame. Someone must have angered the gods. Well, they aren't wrong this time. I would not say it is a good idea to have a witch hunt these days because evil has come upon us. We all do enough wickedness every day to call God's wrath upon us in general. Well they casts lots and the LORD saw to it the lot fell upon Jonah. Now the real questioning begins. Who, what, why, how, and when Jonah did you do something to call the anger of the gods upon them? They are looking for a justified reason for what they are about to do. Jonah must have committed some heinous act. His background must be such that it would justify this great storm that has come upon them. 9“I’m a Hebrew,” he answered them, “and worship the LORD, the God of heaven Who made the sea and the land.” 10Terribly frightened, the men asked him, “What did you do?” They now knew he was running away from the LORD, because he told them. Well Jonah answers them. His answer invoked fear. They were used to a different god mastering these different elements and aspects of creation but this God is over the heavens, land and sea! I guess it is funny they asked him what he did because he had already told them he was fleeing the LORD. I guess they didn't originally think much of it. He didn't murder anyone, commit adultery or some great treachery in their minds. He simply wasn't fulfilling his vocation. We often measure the greatness of our sins based on how much other people are affected. We don't look at the One and the greatness of the One we have sinned against. Would that we could recognize with James (2:11) that all our sins, no matter how great or miniscule according to our reason, are a sin against the God of heaven, earth and the sea. May we truly see the gravity of our smallest sins, repent and turn to Jesus Christ, the LORD as our only refuge from the wrath of God. Heavenly, give us a mind that rightly discerns our sins against you and grant us repentance and faith so we may live eternally in Your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Read the full article
