The Only Way

One of my favorite stories in Scripture is the story of Jonah, yet every time I read it, I take away a different meaning (Almost 2 years ago when I studied this story, this is what stood out then: ("When God Says Go"). When I read the story this time, it wasn't Jonah that stood out to me or the fact that he literally got swallowed by a whale and somehow managed to live... it was the actions of the other men on the boat that caught my attention. 

The men on the boat were desperately looking for a way to calm the storm down. The very first thing they do is cry out to their own gods, whatever/whoever they were (vs5). But the storm only gets worse from there.

So my question for you is this:

As the storms in your own life approach, what 'god' do you turn to? 

Because that could make all the difference in how you will face that storm. 

The guys on the boat were looking for other ways to get through the storm. They prayed to their own gods. They started throwing cargo overboard. They cast lots. They tried rowing back to land. Nothing worked... until they finally turned to God to save them.

It was the one true God that they turned to last. 

How often do we do that in our lives? We try everything we can to solve our problems and get through the storm on our own, and it's God that we turn to last. 

When the men on the boat turned to Jonah's God, they found their resolution and the storm immediately died down. 

 “So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.”

Jonah 1:15-16 ESV

We have to learn to seek God first in our storms, before we turn to everything and anything else. Doing so would probably save us a lot of trouble. 

God is not a last resort. He is faithful. And we will never fully experience His faithfulness until we start seeing Him as the ONLY way to get through the storm…Not a possible way, not an option, not a last resort, but the ONLY way.  

“Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

He made the storm be still,

and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

–Psalm 107:28-29