Godly Calm in Worldly Storms
Jonah 1:1-16 - New International Version (NIV)
1 The word of
the Lord came to Jonah son of
Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against
it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
3 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.
4 Then the Lord sent a
great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened
to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out
to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a
deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you
sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we
will not perish.”
7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to
find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell
on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for
making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come
from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the
sea and the dry land.”
10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They
knew he was running away from the Lord,
because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What
should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will
become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon
you.”
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they
could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then
they cried out to the Lord,
“Please, Lord, do not let us die
for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent
man, for you, Lord, have done as
you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard,
and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared
the Lord, and they offered a
sacrifice to the Lord and made
vows to him.
Why was Jonah
to go to Nineveh and to preach against it (verses 1 and 2)?
Where did
Jonah start for (verse 3)?
How did the
Lord respond to Jonah fleeing (verse 4)?
Who did the
sailors cry out to (verse 5)?
What was Jonah
doing as the sailors tried to lighten the load (verse 5)?
In your
opinion, why did the capitan want Jonah to “get up and call on your god”
(verse 6)?
How did the
sailors decide that Jonah was responsible for the calamity (verse 7)?
How does Jonah
describe God in his answer to the sailor’s questions (verses 8 and 9)?
In your
opinion, why were the sailors terrified (verse 10)?
Why did the
sailors ask “what should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us”
(verse 11)?
How did Jonah
answer the question (verse 12)?
In your
opinion, why did the sailors try to row back to land (verse 13)?
What did the
sailors pray (verse 14)?
What happened
when they threw Jonah overboard (verse 15)?
In your
opinion, why did the sailors greatly fear the Lord (verse 16)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 4:35-41 - New
International Version (NIV)
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go
over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took
him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A
furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was
nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.
The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be
still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still
have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the
wind and the waves obey him!”
When did Jesus
say let us go over to the other side” (verse 35)?
What did the
disciples do (verse 36)?
Why was the
boat nearly swamped (verse 37)?
Where was
Jesus (verse 38)?
What did the
disciples ask Jesus (verse 39)?
When did the
wind die down (verse 39)?
In your
opinion, why were the disciples afraid (verse 40)?
How did the
disciples feel after they were saved (verse 41)?
In your opinion, what does Jonah 1:1-16 and
Mark 4:35-41 teach us about the power of God?
Are we also terrified when we see God’s power in action?
13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their
opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 Before
very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from
the island. 15 The ship was caught by the storm and could not
head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 As
we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to
make the lifeboat secure, 17 so the men hoisted it aboard. Then
they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were
afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea
anchor and let the ship be driven along. 18 We took
such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw
the cargo overboard. 19 On the third day, they threw the ship’s
tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor
stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up
all hope of being saved.
21 After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before
them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete;
then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22 But
now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost;
only the ship will be destroyed. 23 Last night an angel of the
God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and
said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has
graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ 25 So
keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as
he told me. 26 Nevertheless, we must run aground on some
island.”
What did they do when
the gentle south wind began to blow (verse 13)?
How did the wind change
(verse 14)?
In your opinion, how did the wind control the ship (verse
15)?
Why was the lifeboat hoisted aboard (verses 16 and 17)?
Why did they begin to throw cargo overboard (verse 18)?
What did they throw overboard on the third day (verse 19)?
When did they give up hope of being saved (verse 20)?
In your opinion, why did Paul start out by saying “I told
you so” (verse 21)?
Why should they keep their courage (verse 22)?
Who had come to Paul (verse 23)?
What must Paul do (verse 24)?
How did Paul respond to what the angel told him would happen
(verse 25)?
What practical thing must they do to be saved (verse 26)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what can we learn from considering that the
sailors in Jonah 1:1-16 had to throw Jonah overboard to save themselves, but
the people on the ship in Acts 27:13-26 were going to be saved because Paul was
with them and God wanted him to “stand trial before Caesar”?
In your opinion, do you feel differently about the salvation
of the disciples in Mark 4:35-41 who were saved from a storm they were exposed
to because Jesus had ordered them to cross the sea and the salvation of the people
in Acts 27:13-26 who were saved from the storm they got into after they ignored
Paul’s advice to not sail from Crete?
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for
us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son,
but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously
give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those
whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is
the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was
raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it
is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any
powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
In your
opinion, “if God is for us, who can be against us” (verse 31)?
What did God
give up for us (verse 32)?
Who justifies
(verse 33)?
Who is “interceding
for us” (verse 34)?
In your
opinion, can “trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or
danger or sword” separate us from the love of Christ (verse 35)?
Why do “we
face death all day long” (verse 36)?
How are we “more
than conquerors” of all these things (verse 37)?
What can “neither
death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation” not
do (verses 38 and 39)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does the disciple’s response to the
storm and the salvation they received in Mark 4:35-41 show us about what they understood,
at that moment, about the amazing love “of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord” Paul tells us about in Romans 8:31-39?
In your
opinion, how do you think Paul’s knowledge in Romans 8:31-39, that God had
given up His Son to justify him, and that Jesus was interceding for him, help
him to maintain his courage in the midst of the storm of Acts 27:13-26 and in
the trial before Caesar that is to come later?
In your
opinion, what do these passages from Jonah, Mark, Acts and Romans teach us
about the storms of our lives and God’s presence in them?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
