Did you know there were two men who slept in a boat in the midst of a storm? Jesus did in Luke 8 and Jonah did in Jonah 1. Both men entered a boat and fell asleep and both men were awakened by experienced sailors and fishermen who knew the power of the sea, but did not know the power of God. Jonah and Jesus, when they were awakened in the midst of the storm, calmed the sea, for both knew the God who had the power of both land and water. Jesus did it with a spoken word and Jonah did it with a prophetic act, he was thrown overboard into the sea and when he was the sea calmed down. I love how the Old Testament stories parallel the New Testament stories. It shows consistency, it shows authority and it shows authenticity.

As I was reading about Jonah this morning, the Lord began to show me how our disobedience creates storms in other people’s lives. Being an American, we are indoctrinated with the idea of individualism, as though what I say or do does not affect anyone else. We do not realize how interconnected we really are with people and how our obedience to the voice of God or disobedience to His voice actually creates storms in the lives of other people. Jonah 1:12 says it this way, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” Jonah knew the storm the other sailors were encountering was not because of something they did, but because of something he did not do, which was obey God.

The kingdom of God is a community of the likes we don’t fully understand, yet. We are a body and we are interconnected to one another. What we do personally affects others corporately. What we do nationally affects others internationally. What we do either calms or creates storms in other people’s lives. When a storm rises, it is not supposed to be “normal” it is supposed to be “abnormal” henceforth, why we want to calm it. May we be quick to obey the voice of God, quick to repent and quick to humble ourselves so the storm calms in the lives of those we are doing life, community and family with. Peace feels so much better than a storm. Our obedience, repentance and humility declares to the storm, peace be still!