“So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” – Jonah 1:6
This Fall I’ve been taking some time to study the book of Jonah is great detail. It is one of my favorite books of the Old Testament and a book that I will be teaching for an online Grace College of Divinity class next semester.
This morning I was reading the verse above. The context is Jonah sleeping in the bottom of a ship after fleeing the command of God to go to Nineveh. In an effort to stop his rebellion, God sends a powerful storm against the ship that Jonah is on. The sailors are above throwing cargo overboard and calling out to every god they can think of, hoping that the storm will abate. Meanwhile the one who is responsible for the storm and who is rebelling against the true God is asleep below. That is when the captain finds Jonah and, in amazement and with earnest, makes the statement above.
One of the commentaries I am reading made a very insightful and applicable observation about this verse. One that really challenged me this morning. He said,
“There is extreme irony here: a ‘heathen sea captain’ pleaded with a Hebrew prophet to pray to his God. It is sobering to see one who might be termed an ‘unbeliever’ pleading for spiritual action on the part of a ‘believer.’ The ‘unbeliever’ saw the gravity of the situation while the prophet slept. It is a sad commentary when those who are committed to the truth of God’s word have to be prodded by a lost world into spiritual activity.” – Frank Page, New American Commentary, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, p. 231.
It is a chilling reminder. Here is an unbeliever terrified for his life as he looks at his impending doom in the face of God’s action. There is the prophet of truth, asleep and oblivious to the situation and to the plight of the unbeliever. The prophet is awakened to the voice of an unbeliever begging him to pray to his God for their salvation.
It might not be loud, it might not be often, but I can’t help but think that there are unbelievers in our city begging the people of God to call out for their salvation – or even show them the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. I certainly hope I don’t prove to be a Jonah – asleep and oblivious.
Food for thought.
Blessings,
Jeremy
