365 Days with God - Day 151: The Tempest

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 151, May 20, 2014

Readings: Psalm 150, Deuteronomy 1, Jonah 1, 2 Timothy 1:1-7

Have you ever felt as if you were in the midst of a storm in your life? A huge storm? One so big that you could not escape it? One that made you feel as if you would be torn to pieces by it? That you could not survive? And in the middle of it, did you ask God why?

Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the LORD, "O LORD, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you." So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from it's raging. (Jonah 1:11-15)

Jonah was running from God - and God sent a storm to bring him back. But this storm didn't just affect Jonah, it affected the sailors and passengers on the ship. His sin endangered many others - and God was willing to let them all be shaken by the storm. He didn't rescue them before Jonah had relented. He didn't calm the storm until Jonah had given up - until Jonah was thrown over.

Many times in our lives, the storms will continue until we hurl our sin overboard. Until we allow God's grace to rule in our lives, until we turn back to Him and stop trying to do our own thing.  He does not send the storm to redeem us, but to bring us home. He does not send the storm to destroy us, but to rescue our souls. When will you stop running?