Weekly Message
IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP!
Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had laid down, and was fast asleep.
(Jonah 1:5)
When I was a child, my grandmother would wake me up with the phrase, get up honey, the early bird catches the worm. I wasn't sure why she was using an illustration about worms and birds to make me get up. But I now realize that there is a time to sleep, and a time to wake up. And if we are sleeping, when we should be awake, we are going to inevidently miss something very important
In the passage above, Jonah had chosen to take a nap rather than face the assignment that God had for him to do. He did not like the people of Nineveh, and did not want to go and preach to them as God had commanded. However, God put pressure on Jonah by sending a storm that not only threatened Jonah, but everyone else on the ship. Storms create a need, and sooner or later, they have to be addressed.
What are some of the storms that we face today? Our storms may be drug addiction. Or child abuse. Or family violence. Or racial prejudice. Perhaps your storm may be lack of education, or jobs. The storm of immorality pervades our communities. And yes, an even bigger storm occurs, when we don't know Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Answering the call to serve in a storm is not always pleasant, but necessary. God wakes us up for the purpose of working on the storm. When there is a storm there are generally 3 choices available to us. We can: 1) Act like we have not seen the storm; 2) Go back to sleep during the storm; or 3) Answer God's call to serve during the storm.
Whatever action that we take has consequences. But my suggestion is that we wake up and follow God's instructions for our lives. Remember, after Jonah woke up and found himself in the belly of a great fish, he prayed. Thereafter, the storm ceased. If you want the storms to cease in your life, wake up, pray, and follow God's instructions. Then watch God as He says to the storm, "Peace Be Still!" Wake up, Church!
