The Jonah In Your Boat

THE JONAH IN YOUR BOAT

By Dr D.K. Olukoya

Beloved, this week we shall be looking at a very serious message entitled, “The Jonah in Your boat”. It reveals the story of Jonah showing that men do not always want to do the will of God; a great tragedy indeed Jonah 1:1-17 says “ Now the word of God came to Jonah, the son of Amittai saying, Arise, go to Nineveh that great city and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tar shish from the presence of the Lord and went to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tar shish. So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto tar shish from the presence of the Lord. 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. 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 off them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmasters 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. And they said everyone to his fellow, come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lots fell upon Jonah. Then they said unto him, tell us, we pray thee for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? And where comest thou? What is your country? And of what people art thou? And he said unto them, l am an Hebrew; and l fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, what shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, take me up and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for l know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you (The men did not want to do what he said) Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; But they could not; for same wrought, and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the lord and said we beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood; for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her ranging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Now he Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

God’s ultimate aim for mankind is that we must conform to the image of Christ and that at the name of Jesus every name must bow of things on earth, of things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess Him as the Lord. But the world is in a mess and men live and die without Christ. Some who had Christ lost Him and died without hope. The Lord’s Prayer says, “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” Meaning that, God’s will is supposed to be done on earth always.

It is disastrous to rebel against the Creator. The Lord had no problem talking to the storm to be stirred up and telling the fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah should have known that before refusing to do the will of the Almighty God. Jonah like many of us, do not want to do the will of God.

A certain man called Brother Grand prayed for the will of God in marriage. He saw a very nice girl in the fellowship who was beautiful, had a good job and seemed to be okay generally. Brother Grand who wanted to serve the Lord as an evangelist felt that the woman was the kind of person he needed for a wife to help him in his ministry (That is why preach at the mountain of fire and Miracles ministries that people should find purpose for their lives before praying for partners so that they won’t pick partners who will destroy the purpose of God for their lives) But the Lord told him that she was not his wife, and that his wife is a sister who normally sat at the back of the church; The Problem with that sister was that she had tuberculosis. Brother Grand then replied God, “No l am an evangelist and l move around a lot. This sister cannot cope she will die soon. The Lord said, “ l have spoken and will not repeat myself” He struggled with God like many people do before he eventually gave in to the will of God. He went ahead and married the Tuberculosis case. A week after their weeding, the nice girl who Brother Grand wanted to marry just fell sick and died. Then he understood God. But for the tuberculosis girl that he married, it was as if their marriage was the cure that she needed. Immediately after their wedding, the tuberculosis vanished and she became a strong woman for God. So sometimes, what God will ask you to do, your body or flesh will complain and grumble. It may also be bitter but it would be the best thing for you. The Bible says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto man but the end therefore is death” (Proverbs 14:12) It is God that can see the end of everything from the beginning. There was another case of a sister in a church I used to attend many years ago. She cried to a certain man of God for a husband. The man of God had compassion on her and went to a mountain to pray for her. He prayed for seven days, came back and told her that her partner was the same brother God had revealed to her as husband. The only problem with that brother was that he had one eye. The sister then said, . Then the sister said, “Well, if a one-eyed man is the best God has for me, l would marry someone else” So, she married one university lecturer who happened to be one of those who would come to church to clap and sing but never got born again. There are many people like that in the house of God. Another problem the man had was that he ran after anything in skirt. Unfortunately, after about five years of marriage with two children, the man died and that was the end of that marriage. The sister became so poor that the church had to be taking care of her and her children. There are many stubborn Christian like that, Jonah was a stubborn and rebellious prophet, His name means dove but his character an behaviour was the opposite of his name. So it does not matter whether you were named Samuel or Joseph and those who gave you the name could have good intentions, but if you are a disobedient person, God will not be happy with you.