Throw Me In!

No one knows why. No one really discusses it… the prophet of God, Jonah and his request for the sailors to throw him into the sea.

We know that the storm was very bad, so bad the sailors were afraid for their lives. Once they had figured out who was responsible for the storm they asked him (Jonah) for some direction as to what to do, to get them out of the situation. His command for them to throw him into the sea didn’t seem to be an acceptable option. They were not about to throw a servant of the God of this storm into the sea. They did not want His anger to turn on them.

So, they tried and tried to make it back to port to let Jonah off the ship. They valued his life and wanted to try to spare it. But in the end, the storm was so bad it closed down that option. So with much prayer and regret they threw Jonah overboard.

He didn’t jump overboard own his own.
He didn’t offer to walk the plank on his own.
The only way he was going in was if the sailors threw Him in.

Throw me in! Throw me in!

Jonah, the man who wanted to determine his own direction, and have his own way, now places his fate into the hands of people he barely knew.

“Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” (Jonah 1:12)

The administration of justice for his wrong doing was now placed in the sailor’s hands.

The heathen sailors were gracious to Jonah and in an act of compassion, they tried to make it back to land so Jonah’s life would be spared. They worked hard against the tempest, (toiled and labored) but in the end, that door stayed closed, and they were left with only one option.

Jonah had to be tossed.

So they picked him up and threw Him into the sea and the moment Jonah hit the water the storm ceased and the sea became calm.

Throw me In!

Are you in the mist of a storm right now of your own making? A storm that is raging because you decied not to follow the Lord? A storm that keeps pounding and pounding on the lives of those around you?

If so it is time to say…

Hey, I just want to let you know this is my fault. I have done wrong and I am sorry.

Then ask them…

What do you think I need to do to make this right?

This is you, placing yourself and your wrong doing into their hands. You are allowing them to determine what punishment is appropriate to make things right. You may want to suggest something to do, something that is on the level of “Throw me in and let me be devoured by the storm my actions have created for you”.

This takes courage to say, and a humbleness to submit to the people who you have allowed to have the task of determining what needs to be done to make the situation right.

Its scary…

to place your fate in someone else’s hands…

but the storm is scarier.