SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/17/2025 8:27 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Intro to Jonah 1:7-17”
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 1:7-17
Message of the verse: “7 Each man said to his mate, "Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us." So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, "Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 9 He said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land." 10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, "How could you do this?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.11 So they said to him, "What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?" — for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 12 He said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you." 13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. 14 Then they called on the LORD and said, "We earnestly pray, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O LORD, have done as You have pleased." 15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows. 17 And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.”
John MacArthur entitles this second chapter in his commentary on Jonah “A Great Fish and the Fishing of Men.” In this second chapter of Jonah we will see at the end Jonah thrown into the sea and a great fish will swallow him, and he will be in the stomach of the fish for three days. Now think about this for a moment and compare it to the Lord Jesus Christ who was buried and at the end of three days the Spirit of God brought Him back to life, as Jonah would in a sense die for those three days and then the great fish would spit him out onto the land where he would then preach to the Ninevites, as God had directed him to do before he ran from the presence of the Lord. John MacArthur writes the following introduction to these verses:
“Why do natural disasters and catastrophic events occur in the world? Scripture answers that question by pointing to mankind’s fall into sin (Gen. 3:1-7), when God placed a curse on creation as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience (Gen. 3:17-19; Rom. 6:23; 8:22-23; Col. 1:20). Ever since, calamities have occurred as a consequence of sin and its curse, including droughts (Job 24:19; Jer. 14:1), floods (Matt. 7:27), earthquakes (Ps. 46:2-3; Amos 1:1), and wildfires (Isa. 1:7). These deadly realities serve as painful reminders of what it means to live in a fallen world.
“Though every natural disaster represents divine judgment in a general sense, the Lord sometimes unleashes calamity in response to particularly egregious sin. Because of Humanity’s exceeding wickedness, God sent a global flood to destroy the world, preserving only those on the ark (cf. Gen. 6:5). In Genesis 19, the Lord rained down fire and brimstone on the perverse cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He later leveled Egypt with ten devastating plagues because Pharaoh refused to stop oppressing God’s people (Ex. 1-15). Because of Israel’s grumbling in the wilderness, Yahweh sent poisonous serpents, causing many to die (Num. 21: cf. 25:1-9). When David sinfully took a census, the Lord sent a pestilence that claimed the lives of 70,000 people (2 Sam. 224:15; and see 1 Chr. 21). Looking to the future, Jesus foretold that at the end of the age, ‘Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be a great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven’ (Luke 21:10-11; cf. Matt. 24:7; Mark 13:7-8). While natural disasters are not always indicative of God’s specific condemnation (cf. Job 1; John 9:1-3), the Lord often uses catastrophic events to execute His wrath.
“Whether due to a general effects of a fallen world or to a special act of divine wrath, all natural disasters punctuate a critical spiritual reality. Commenting on two deadly tragedies that occurred in Jerusalem (Luke 13:1, 4), Jesus warned his listeners, ‘Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish’ (13:5). Catastrophic events serve as vivid reminders of the brevity this life and the need for divine forgiveness. As Jesus explained, only by repenting from sin, and turning to the Lord in faith, can sinners be saved from God’s judgment in both this life and the life to come (John 11:25-26; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).
“Any disaster should point people to the need for repentance and salvation, but God created this storm recorded in Jonah 1 specifically to draw the attention of both the desperate sailors and His disobedient servant to Himself. Building on the dramatic scene presented in verses 1-6, this passage (vv. 7-17) continues to describe all that God was accomplishing through the fierce tempest. Verses 7-8 recount the sailor’s discovery that Jonah was the specific target of this deluge of divine discipline. Verse 9 records Jonah’s declaration of Yahweh’s sovereign power. Verses 10-13 depict the crew’s subsequent dismay, culminating with their deliverance from the storm in verses 14-16. Finally, the chapter concludes with Jonah’s detainment and miraculous deliverance by means of a great fish (v. 17). God’s deep-sea rescue of His prophet was so spectacular that it foreshadowed the greatest deliverance of all-the salvation of sinners accomplished through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Matt. 12:38-41). Though Jonah fled from God to counteract His mercy, God nevertheless used Jonah’s actions to display the wonder of His grace.”
Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today: There are times in my life and in all the lives of believers that the Lord has to discipline all believers. That is what the Lord was doing to Jonah in this section, but Jonah was man enough to admit to his wrong and thus was thrown into the sea. The Bible tells us “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confess means to agree with, in this case the Lord, and so when we sin and all of us do then we must agree with the Lord that we have sinned and then ask for His forgiveness in order to be cleansed from all unrighteousness.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting the Lord for grace as my wife has to see her doctor about test results, and it does not look like there will be any good news.
9/17/2025 9:15 AM
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