Devotion 5: Sleeping Through The Storm

Katrina Young

Have you ever slept through a raging thunderstorm? I have been told that I have! I am actually a fairly light sleeper, but in those storms, for some reason, I was able to block out my surroundings and not hear a thing. In the story of Jonah, we find a man who was able to sleep through a storm. In Jonah’s case, we know he is actively defying God's request and fleeing from His presence (Jonah 1:10), and yet, he is able to sleep through a life-threatening storm that had everyone else in a panic. What does this tell us? Maybe Jonah's sleep was not that peaceful, maybe it was an attempt to escape the consequences of his disobedience. He was literally and figuratively "out to sea" when it came to what God had asked him to do.

In Jonah 1:2, God says, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”Jonah went the other way, the complete opposite direction, heading to Tarshish some three thousand miles away. However, instead of escaping God's presence, he saw God’s power on display. Our God is all-seeing and all-knowing, and there is nothing we can do to escape it. Psalm 139:7-8 reminds us, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!”

Sometimes, we can be spiritually asleep during life’s storms. We might be ignoring God's call or running from a difficult situation that God wants us to walk through. We might be so consumed by our own desires or fears that we miss the very real spiritual battles raging around us. Like Jonah, we might be oblivious to the danger until someone else (like the captain of the ship) wakes us up to the reality of our situation. The good news is that God's mercy is greater than our disobedience. Even in Jonah's deep sleep and rebellion, God was working.

“He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:10-12

What storms are you facing today? Are you sleeping through them, trying to avoid or even ignoring God's voice? Or are you awake and actively seeking guidance from Him? Remember that God is always at work, even when we are not. His desire is for us to turn to Him, to wake up to His presence, and to trust in His plan, even in the midst of life's most turbulent waters. He will not abandon us, but He will lovingly pursue us, even if it means sending a storm to get our attention.