Ever find yourself drowning in circumstances beyond your control? We all do. and it may be that God is attempting to get our attention. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl recounts an awkward moment in Jonah's life. Out on the stormy sea with pagan sailors aboard, Jonah became resigned to defeat.
His response to a life-threatening crisis was shocking. Even after his rescue, Jonah seemed to yawn at God's miraculous intervention.
So, what are the lessons for us today? From his biographical series on Jonah the Reluctant Prophet, Chuck titled his message, Prayers on board, profit overboard. One of the beautiful things about true Christianity. is spontaneity. God loves it when we are Simply who we are.
We call it being real.
Sometimes it's referred to as authentic. But it's a learned trait. Because so many who If I may use these words, are church people all their lives. Learn to to have a church kind of front. that they put on.
And I don't know that there's anything that so displeases the Lord more than. being something we're not. I encourage you in your week and before us. To simply be who you are. Take the time to listen better.
Walk just a little bit slower. Think a lot deeper. On occasion Have all the music and sound in your home off. And listen to the sounds of silence. Ask the Lord to use Those quiet moments to prepare you for Whatever may be the day, Whatever it will hold.
He knows, but we don't know. And As we look into the life of a man who had become tired of God. We realize the A consequence of that. And I just urge all of us. to have a fresh Vital Authentic relationship with our God and with one another.
If you're not feeling well, someone asks, How are you? The answer isn't, oh, fine. It's I'm not feeling well. If you're concerned about something, Someone asked How are things? The answer is not, oh, they're great.
Because they're not. That isn't real. If Jesus could give a prayer spontaneously, On the spur of the moment, Surely we can be Just what we are. at all times.
Someone once asked Mark Twain the difference between. A person who tells the truth and someone who lies. His answer was profound. A liar has to have a better memory. He said.
You don't need a good memory when you tell the truth. Just be what you are.
Now we're going to look at a life that missed the truth by a mile. And interestingly, his story is recorded. and doubly interesting his story Is perhaps the most ridiculed of all the books of the Bible. This one and maybe Daniel. But this one especially because so many missed the point.
And the truth of it all Because we don't take the time to really think deeply. about what we're reading.
So let's do that. But really here what's being read. Let's really think. As we worship. Let's be what we are.
Jonah chapter 1. Beginning at verse 9. I'll be reading from the New Living translation because It provides in a fresh way Words that can become stale. for overuse. If it helps you to follow without looking at your Bible, you may do that.
Or if you wish to follow along, please do. Jonah 1. Beginning at verse 9. Jonah answered, I am a Hebrew. And I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea.
And the land. The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for. He had already told them he was running away from the Lord. Oh, why did you do it? They groaned.
And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him. What should we do to you to stop? This storm Throw me into the sea. Jonah said, and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm.
is all my fault. Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship. To the land, but the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn't make it. Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah's God. O Lord, they pleaded.
Don't make us die for this man's sin, and don't hold us responsible for his death. Oh, Lord. You have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons. Then the sailors Picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea. And the storm stopped.
at once. The sailors were awestruck. by the Lord's great power. And they offered him a sacrifice. And vowed to serve him.
Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish. to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish. For three days And three nights. You're listening to Insight for Living.
To dig deeper into the story of Jonah on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook by going to insight.org/slash offer. Chuck titled today's message, Prayers on Board, Profit Overboard. When you read your Bible, never forget about the Invisible presence of God. That's it. The invisible presence of God.
Now that's easy to do because He doesn't always appear in black letters on white pages. Even though he is all the way through the scriptures. Even though he is invincible in both plan and power. He is invisible and easy to miss. And it's easy to overlook the fact that he is sovereignly at work.
In the lives of all of those who appear in the scriptures, and while I'm at it, in all our lives. And because we do not See him. and cannot audibly hear him. It is easy to overlook him. And to miss him altogether.
Sometimes. His working will come in the form of surprises. Occasionally, in what we might call mysteries. And on rare occasions through miracles. But be careful about that miracle part.
Some people see a miracle in just about everything. You know, a parking place at Christmas time at Nordstrom's. is not a miracle. Your mother-in-law speaking to you is not a miracle. Miracles occur very rarely and always when we are unable to explain how.
And often why. But the point is here that God knows what he's doing. He knows what he's about. Even when we cannot Figure it out. Even when we forget, He is at work.
One person put it like this: when God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man. When God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part. When he yearns with all his heart to create so Great and bold a man that all the world shall be amazed. Watch his methods, watch his ways. How he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects.
How he hammers him and hurts him. And with mighty blows converts him. Into trial shapes of clay, which only God understands. While his tortured heart is crying, and he lifts beseeching hands. How he bends but never breaks.
When his good he undertakes How he uses whom he Chooses and with every purpose. Fuses him by every act, induces him to try his splendor out. God knows what he's about. All this brings us to the prophet. Jonah.
Who foolishly thought that he could. Escape the presence. of God. Who found it? Foolishly thought he could block the sovereign plan.
that was being fulfilled in him and through him. All the while, his invisible God. was doing his invincible will. It would be impossible. For Jonah to escape it.
You see, uh Even though Jonah didn't realize it. God was there all the time. When Jonah went to Joppa and happened to find a ship. Ceiling for Torsus. God was there.
When Jonah bought the one-way ticket, To go as far to To the west. As the ship could take him. God got on the ship with him. When the ship went to sea, God went to sea. When Jonah wound up in the hold of the ship, wrapped in his prophet's mantle.
Dozing off to sleep, God was there, but. He who never slumbers or sleeps. was at that time gathering up the billowing clouds of the sky, And pushing at the waters of the sea. to form a storm. Because God Though invisible, Never named audibly to Jonah or the sailors.
God was in the storm. He's in every storm. Nahum writes. He has his Way and the whirlwind and the storms and The clouds are but the dust of his feet. Nayam one.
Verse 3. And so it was in this case. God is in the midst of this storm. He still is. This is an ancient theology for only ancient times.
This is. For today. This includes the storms in your life. And those in mine. And we begin with storms that shock.
Storms that shock, reminding us of who is in charge. Two questions come to mind. When do they happen? Several answers occur. From my study of the Bible and also from life.
I would say, when we least expect them. I would add: when we are adrift spiritually, storms have a way of getting us back on track. When we think we're in charge, storms remind us we're not. Here's another one. They come when we have been clinging too tightly to people we need to release.
or things we need to let go of. Storms have a way of helping us release our grip. When do they come when we are in need of Rearranging our priorities and reframing our lives. Storms hit. And they sometimes hit with a vengeance.
Because they are unexpected, they catch us off guard. But there they are, nevertheless.
Now why do they come? Again, several reasons come to mind. They come first to humble us. They humble us. They also come to get our attention.
They come to make us aware of our own frailty, our own limitations. They come to remind us. I'll say again of who is in charge. of our lives.
So that we will Don't miss this word. You don't hear it often.
So that we will fear God. Fear God. I did not say be afraid of him. Parents want their children to fear them in the sense that they want their children and should expect them to respect them. That requires a lot of the parents.
and it requires training of the children. But God certainly does expect it of us. We are to Hold him in awesome Respect. You've heard me emphasize it before. I suggest we limit the word awesome.
To God. It's all part of fearing him. Storms bring a healthy awareness. That this is God. At work.
Right here. Right now. To Jonah, God wasn't all that significant. God had become a ho-hum Subject. You heard it right.
To Jonah, God had become a ho-ham subject. Take it or leave him. God says, go to Nineveh. Are you kidding? I'm on my way to Tarshish.
Because the command of God didn't Arrest Jonah's attention. He's tired of God. Maybe at this time he's Able to shrug it off. Which explains how he can crawl down into the hold of the ship. and fall asleep.
He didn't take God seriously. Until There was a storm. Paul David Tripp has written a book Every person who is in ministry. And every person who loves the ministry. should read.
Paul David Tripp's book is titled Dangerous. Calling. He makes us aware in the book of the danger of A chapter titled Familiarity. My word by synonym would be overexposure. People in ministry, traffic.
in biblical truth. We are in the scriptures, or certainly should be, regularly. like every day We are thinking those thoughts. every day We are dealing with such things as prayer. Personal discipline.
Deep application. Every day And by and by You can live in that hothouse so long before If you're not careful, God becomes Trite. That's the danger that Paul David Tripp addresses in his chapter. And in that chapter, He quotes a great theologian from yesteryear. Named Benjamin B.
Warfield. Who taught at the Great Princeton Seminary? back in its greatest days. In fact, at the autumn conference At Princeton, Benjamin Warfield brought and address to the students. The date was October the 4th.
Eleven.
Well over a hundred years ago. In that lecture, Warfield addresses This familiarity. Listen to his words. Listen carefully. I quote.
We are frequently told that the great danger of the theological student or anyone in ministry. lies in his constant contact with divine things. They may come to seem common because they are customary. You may come to handle even the furniture in the sanctuary with never a thought above the gross earthly. material of which it is made.
The words which tell you of God's terrible majesty or of His glorious goodness. may come to be mere words to you. Hebrew and Greek words with etymologies, inflections, and connections in sentences God's stately steppings I love those words. God's stately steppings in His redemptive process. may become to you a mere series of facts of history.
But much like other facts occurring in time and space. which may come to you with hardly a notice. It is your great danger.
Now listen closely. But it is your great danger only because it is your great privilege. Think of what your privilege is when your greatest danger is that the great things of religion may become common. to you. You are in danger of becoming weary of God.
To put it in today's language, Trip adds. God's workings start to make us yawn. Which is precisely where Jonah was, I might add. That's why he could fall sound asleep. At that point, the author Paul Tripp adds this cogent comment.
What powerful words of warning. B B Warfield said. What is the danger? It is that familiarity with the things of God will cause you to lose your awe of God. You spent so much time in Scripture that its grand redemptive narrative doesn't excite you anymore.
You spend so much time exegeting the atonement that you can stand at the foot of the cross with little weeping and scant rejoicing. You spent so much time discipling others. that you are no longer amazed at the reality of being chosen to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You spent so much time unpacking the theology of Scripture that you've forgotten that its end game is personal holiness. You spent so much time meditating on what it means to lead others.
But you have little private awe. It's all become so Regular.
So normal that it fails to move you any more. Could there be greater danger in ministry? than that the one leading the ministry would lose It's awe of God. That is precisely Jonah's problem. Nothing related to God or God's work.
Excited or interested Jonah. Anymore. That's when it's time to bring on the storm. And that's exactly what God did. The arc of Jonah's story is building momentum, so stay with us to hear Chuck Swindahl tell the rest of the story.
Insight for Living has prepared a Searching the Scriptures Bible Study workbook for this series on Jonah. This spiral bound resource is perfectly suited for your life group or for independent study. In addition, all nine of Chuck's sermons for this series are recorded on audio CD or MP3. and you can purchase them by calling us at 800-772-8888. You know, Insight for Living Ministries would have no reason to exist if it wasn't for listeners like you.
These daily programs and the study materials we produce are designed with you in mind. In that same spirit, as you measure the value of Insight for Living in your life, would you be willing to reciprocate with a much-needed donation? Your gift will become a blessing to someone who hears this program and perhaps for the very first time understands God's love and grace as never before. When you give a donation today, we'll be saying thank you by providing a brand new booklet. It's called Look Beyond.
Will you focus on eternity? It features the final sermon that Chuck delivered to the congregation that he shepherded for over 25 years. And he preached this message on the weekend of his 90th birthday. In his final sermon, Chuck reflected on the final words of the Apostle Paul, who in his letter to Timothy looked back on his lifetime of service to Christ, as he looked forward to eternity with him. These spirit-inspired words from Paul have implications for you and me no matter what our age.
It's an emotionally charged message from Chuck as he describes the implications of Paul's wisdom for you and me. To support Insight for Living and request the booklet Look Beyond, send your gift in an envelope addressed to Insight for Living. Post Office Box 5000. Frisco, Texas 75034. or you can go to insight.org slash donate.
You can also call us at 800-772-8888. I'm Bill Meyer. Shuckswindahl continues to describe Jonah's apathy on the high seas and the life lessons we can learn from his story. Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message: Prayers on Board, Profit Overboard.
It was copyrighted in 2018, 2019, and 2025. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
