Jonah Slept

The more I study Jonah, the more I find him fascinating. God sent him to preach repentance in Nineveh. He decided all by himself that the Ninevites did not deserve God’s mercy and chose to board a ship going in the opposite direction “to get away from the Lord”. Wow, as if it is even possible.

“But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold” Jonah 1:4‭-‬5 NLT

In the midst of a violent and noisy storm which was knocking the ship from side to side; amidst the desperate screams of the sailors, Jonah was fast asleep in the hold. After having blatantly disobeyed God Almighty; refused to do what He asked of him, Jonah found the “peace of mind” to sleep so deeply that the chaos around him did not jolt him out of sleep. Ha! It was a rebellious sleep.

What is troubling you so much that you lie awake and are unable to sleep? That mistake you made? The job situation? The crappy finances? That one child? The rocky marriage or the lack of it? The health issue? Jonah disobeyed a direct instruction from God and slept through the storm that brewed because of his disobedience. Has your fretting and sleeplessness solved the situation in anyway? It has only made it grow bigger and bigger in your mind.

Anxiety and worry steal our joy, make us more and more confused and make us doubt God. Sleeping in the midst of the storm does not mean you are oblivious of the storm. It means that though you are aware of the stom you are even more aware that the King over the storm is with you and He “will not leave you in trouble to sink”. In Christ we can sleep peacefully in spite of the storm!

Blessings.
Love, Lady Monica❤