Don’t you love it when you think you know a Bible story only to find out you had never noticed a really important part of it?
Sunday, I listened to a sermon about Jonah. The prophet who ran away. A man in serious need of revival. And, it was a good sermon, but the thing that stood out most to me was part of the story I had never noticed before.
Jonah 1:16 says, “At this, the men greatly feared the Lord and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.”
“The men” this verse is referring to are the sailors who threw Jonah overboard so that the Lord would calm the sea.
Jonah was not sent to preach to them. But, even in his disobedience, God used Jonah to show himself mighty to unbelievers. These men started the story calling out to their own gods during the storm. At the end, they were calling on Jonah’s.
The God who told Jonah to go to Nineveh still used him to change the lives of sailors on the raging sea. The mess Jonah had made gave them a glimpse of a very great God.
Now, I’m not saying that we should disobey God because he can work it all out in the end and even get glory in the meantime, but what I’m saying is this: Even our messes can show his majesty.
And, as a mom looking around at a very messy house this morning, I am very thankful for that.