Do you ever read a story in the Bible and wonder what in the world those people were thinking? Doesn’t it seem like some of the things people did were just really, really dumb?

We would never be so stupid.

Or would we?

Check out the first four verses of the book of Jonah:

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

God tells Jonah to go to Ninevah, but Jonah doesn’t want to. Instead, he heads in the opposite direction. God’s response is to cause a violent storm to get Jonah’s attention. You can read the rest of the story here.

My first reaction is to wonder what kind of an idiot Jonah must have been to think he could hide from God. Seriously. Where do you go to hide from God?

But I run from God too. Don’t you? We know what God says to do, but we do our own thing anyway. We turn from His way and go our own way. And we think He won’t really mind or notice or pursue us.

What strikes me in this story is that God alters the weather in a very dramatic way to get the attention of just one man. Many others are also effected by the storm, but God’s purpose is to get the attention of just one person.

I wonder how often God brings storms into our lives to get our attention.

I’m not suggesting that all of our difficulties are due to disobedience, but could some of them be?

If we’re headed in the wrong direction, away from God’s will and God’s best for us, might He use a financial or relational or health-related “storm” to get our attention?

Please hear me, I’m NOT suggesting that every tragedy is the result of sin. And I’m also not saying that our best attempts to obey God will ward off every bad circumstance. In a fallen world, bad things happen…to everyone.

But if God hasn’t changed, then He still cares about how each one of us respond to His commands. And He’s still infinitely creative in how He might choose to get our attention. For Jonah, He used a violent storm and a very large fish.

Could a storm in your life today be God’s loving, gracious attempt to get your attention? To help you see it’s time to turn back to Him and what He’s called you to do?

Don’t keep running. Don’t wait until your circumstances become so bad that it feels like you’ve been swallowed by a fish. Turn back to Him. God’s grace and power are available to you right now.

It’s not too late. You haven’t exhausted God’s grace. Jonah hadn’t. Neither have you.