SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/15/2025 10:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The Prophet’s Disregard”
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 1:5b
Message of the verse: “But Jonah had gone down below into the innermost part of the vessel, lain down, and fallen deep asleep.”
I have to say that I have thought about this verse many times and I have to believe that it has to be something supernatural that kept Jonah asleep through this violent storm. Not sure this is a good comparison but Jesus fell asleep in the disciple’s boat while a great storm was going on around them, and He got up and rebuked the storm and astonished His disciples. I a little while we will see that God also calmed this storm that was going on, but only after Jonah was thrown off the ship did that happen.
We know from this section that the sailors were in fear of their live, and Jonah was sleeping away down in the boat as Jonah exhibited total disregard for the danger of those around him. Jonah was overcome only by drowsiness. “Jonah had gone down below into the innermost part of the vessel, lain down, and fallen deep asleep.” John MacArthur writes “For the third time Jonah had gone down. He had gone down to Joppa (Jonah 1:3a), then down to the boat (1:3b), and now down into the innermost part of the vessel. He was still attempting to escape God’s presence by hiding in the lowest place he could find. The prophet buried himself in the bowels of the ship to insulate himself from the Lord. While the sailors in their terror prayed to false gods, Johan deliberately ignored the true God. In so doing, he engaged in an idolatry of his own, by treating Yahweh as though He were a God who is neither omnipresent nor omniscient (cf. Exod. 20:4-5; Ps. 50:21).”
Let us take a look at these verses: 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,” (Ex. 20:4-5). “21 “These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes” (Ps. 50:21).
John MacArthur goes on to write: “After descending below deck, Jonah demonstrated further audacity by laying himself down (cf. Jud. 5:27), confidently silencing his conscience, and being at ease as he fell deep asleep. The same word described Adam’s sleep when the Lord took one of his ribs to form Eve (Gen. 2:21), or Sisera’s slumber before he was killed by Jael (Judg. 4:21). While the sailors panicked, Jonah slept soundly, oblivious to the peril surrounding him. The prophet’s smug indifference illustrated the self-righteousness that characterized unrepentant Israel throughout the nation’s history (cf. Isa. 1:11-15; Jer. 7:1-26; Matt. 15:1-9; Luke 18:11-12).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to say that it is not my desire to sleep when it comes to spiritual things in my life, but make sure that when I sin that I am quick to confess that to the Lord as Psalm 139:23-23 says: “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to trust the Lord for the things that are going on in my wife’s life as her cancer has spread and so I trust the Lord to direct us to the people who can help her defeat this terrible disease.
9/15/2025 10:58 AM
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