Day 3 – Issue 19

Be Still Know

Jonah 1:14 NLT

‘Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.’

We live in uncertain times. The campaign which led up to the Brexit vote was characterised by fears, both real and imagined.

The great quandary for the sailors was in taking Jonah at his word and tossing him into the sea. Although this was Jonah’s choice and all were aware that this present reality was a consequence of Jonah’s defiant flight from God’s revelation, their natural human instinct to preserve life caused them great anxiety. We know nothing of Jonah’s thoughts, apart from his recognition that he was both cause and solution to this tempest. It was his way of yielding to a word initially given, yet the time he chose apparently offered little hope.

We often assume the worse and our fears become the source of the barriers that hold us back from God’s close presence. I might have avoided the worst experiences of our journey with MS if I had looked beyond reason and medical intervention sooner, trusting myself to the tumultuous seas of uncertainty as our conventional vehicle that had conveyed us through life to this point disintegrated. Hurled into the sea I had to call out to God, and was angry that a more conventional route had failed. Yet it was as I was battered by the cold waters of my greatest fears that I found the substantive reality that is God’s promise of provision and promise. I found I needed to kneel with Jesus and pray, “not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42, NRSV).

This experience was intensely personal and totally isolating. It was me and God in the cold and stormy waters of my own disintegrated life.

QUESTION: Do you find trusting God frightening sometimes? Why?

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, when the storms of life throw me around, please help me cling to your word.