Jonah 1

Perhaps Jonah was swimming when God told him to go to Nineveh.  Jonah admitted that he was not going to Nineveh and bought a ticket elsewhere.  

Lesson one for me, God does not accept bad behavior from his children.  God chose Jonah to carry out this assignment, and Jonah showed God that he was not obeying.

Jonah was not confused about what God told him to do; he heard clearly and disobeyed.

When God speaks, those who know His voice are not confused.

Jonah was at the ship station and paid for a ticket to Tarshish.

Defiance at its finest, says me, who has done the same thing.  Jonah was thinking and made his plan to go away from God's instructions.  God's people add value to others, and when we are out on our own, we bring chaos to other lives.  The ship informed the water, and the water responded by saying, not on my watch.   The storm shook the ship, and those who understood the water turbulence started trying to make the ship lighter.  But that did not work.  The ship's captain was attentive and realized all were not on deck.  He somehow found a mate sleeping in the middle of a storm, and that made him bewildered.  He told Jonah to wake UP!  Imagine a man of God sleeping in a storm while others are fainting for fear. 

 The captain asked Jonah, what do you mean by sleeping at a time like this?  Get up and pray to your God!

The life of a believer will never be understood by a man who is not in the will of God.  Altough Jonah took a turn that was not perfect, he was stilled covered and protected.  When we are growing we will make wrong turns and God will not revoke your policy because you like Jonah, he allows you to compete your assignment in the given time frame.

Some of the men tried to find another way to find out why the sea was mad. They decided to use a superstitious way of finding out who was the blame for the turbulent water; They gambled and whatever name was shown that person was the selected person.  

The lot fell on Jonah.

They demanded to know everything about Jonah, and Jonah complied by answering their questions.

Jonah told them the truth.  It was hard to hear his solution so they did not do what he said.  The water became more violent, now they were left with no other choice but to do as Jonah said.  Jonah was thrown overboard and God had already prepared a whale to swallow him.

God had a plan and Jonah was the man.