God sends storms to change my direction
There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. PROVERBS 14:12 NLT
The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of
Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment
against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and
went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. He went down to the
port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket
and went on board, hoping to escape from the LORD by sailing to Tarshish. But
the LORD hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that
threatened to break the ship apart. JONAH
1:1-4 NLT
Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw
him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! JONAH 1:16 NLT
God will do whatever it takes to turn my life around
Now the LORD had arranged for a great fish to
swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. JONAH 1:17 NLT
God can
use sea monsters to help motivate me to change
Then the
LORD answered Job from the whirlwind: JOB
40:6 NLT
Can you
catch leviathan? Can you make him submit? Will he be your pet? Can you even
hurt him? JOB 41:1-10
“Leviathan
makes the water boil with its commotion. It stirs the depths like a pot of
ointment. The water glistens in its wake, making the sea look white. Nothing on
earth is its equal, no other creature so fearless. Of all the creatures, it is
the proudest. It is the king of beasts.” Job
41:31 NLT
Why did
God make the sea monsters?
God allows me time in the storm to revaluate
“I sank beneath the waves, and the waters
closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself
around my head. I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was
imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever.” JONAH
2:5-6 NLT
Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from
inside the fish. He said, “I cried out to the LORD in my great trouble, and he
answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and LORD, you heard me!
…But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill
all my vows. For my salvation comes from
the LORD alone.” JONAH 2:1-2; 9 NLT
When the storm has done its job, God will give me another
chance to do mine
Then the LORD ordered the fish to spit Jonah
out onto the beach. Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go
to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” This
time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh. JONAH 2:10; 3:1-3 NLT