God of the storms

Last week a fin whale washed up on Fenwick Island. It caused quite a sensation, measuring somewhere around 51 feet or more. Looking in his mouth, it was apparent this thing could easily swallow a man. But perhaps their throats are too small, I don’t know. It made me think of Jonah, and the story of him being swallowed by a great fish. Note that the Bible didn’t call it a whale. Agnostics have long pointed to this story as an example of errors in the Bible. But I don’t have a problem with the story at all. From my perspective, if God can create all the thousands of species of fish in the ocean, then making one large enough to swallow Jonah isn’t a big deal.
In our recent study of 1 & 2 Peter, we read we are all going to suffer hardships in life, but that there are two kinds of hardship. One is as a Christian seeking to serve God and the other is from the result of rebellion against God. Jonah was running from God. Maybe he thought he could serve God just as well in Tarshish. Maybe he was just plain old backslidden and didn’t want to serve God anymore. Whatever the reason, the Bible says that God sent a storm that was so fierce it sent the heathen sailors on board to their knees, calling upon their gods for deliverance.
Well, you know the story. The sailors threw Jonah overboard in hopes that God would relent with the storm. And the Bible says that God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. First of all, I believe if Jonah would have gotten down on his knees on the boat and repented, God would have stopped the storm right then. But Jonah would have rather died than do what God wanted him to do. He said “throw me into the sea.” Wow, he really had a hard heart. Secondly, it’s amazing to me that he spent three days in the belly of the whale before he prayed. By that time, even the fish had gotten sick of his attitude.
God is the God of the storms. It’s comforting to know that whether the storm is of our making, or one that we don’t think we had anything to do with, God is always just a prayer away. The disciples experienced fierce storms on the Sea of Galilee. But in every circumstance, we see Jesus coming to meet them. Job experienced a great storm in his life that wasn’t a result of sin. But eventually his righteousness turned to self righteous bitterness against God for allowing those circumstances in his life. When God answered, He answered from a storm, reminding Job that He was God and Job should not question His ways or His purposes. God is sovereign, able to send the storms and stop the storms. We are not to question His will or His ways, only bow our knees to the Sovereign King and recognize His authority over our lives.