Frightened

Fear is when someone is frightened by something. You will have no problem remembering the name Goliath. We all remember this man as the giant that came forth and said send me a man that we might fight. This one man had a whole army of men frightened. Then there was a man named Elijah, one day he heard that a woman by the name of Jezebel was going to have him killed and her words frightened him to the point that he ran. Then there was a ship and some men who one day at sea were frightened. I want to take a look at them in hopes that you and I will find another avenue to help when fears come.

Jonah 1:4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

Jonah 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that [were] in the ship into the sea, to lighten [it] of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

Jonah 1:6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

Fear produces being afraid. Being afraid produces a plan with prayer to God; notice what is said "every man cried unto his god." These men were in the midst of a storm and were fearful of losing their lives. Things were bad; the moment seemed too urgent, so urgent that there seemed no time to wait on an answer from their god. So they made a decision to lighten the weight of their ship on their own. They began to cast forth the wares into the sea. At that moment that seemed like a good idea, but that wasn’t the answer to their problem and it didn’t solve it. You may ask, what in the world does that have to with me? Great question! Let's look at this event in a different way, a way that concerns you and me. The first thing I noticed was the storm. We all have them come in our life and sometimes they come upon us very quickly. We lose our job; a family member gets a bad report from the doctor, we feel a lump, we are involved in an accident and a host of other storms that come our way. Did you notice what was really said in verse 4? It was a great wind; a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was likely to be broken? In the midst of what looked likely to be a problem a decision was made. Reminds me of when we ourselves get into a storm we assume the worst. We pray but like the mariners we too make a decision before the answer comes. The problem wasn’t in the storm nor was it the weight of the ship but it was with a person on board the ship with a sin problem that they were ignoring. Jonah’s sin problem had now effected those around him and he had to be woken up to its effect. That reminds me of principle #7 which says “Our sinful habits do hurt those who are following us.” A good word of advice is don’t let our sin become storms in others lives. Have a blessed week and remember we do have an effect on those around us.