The Bible holds the answers to all our questions, yet the real issue is that we often own Bibles we don’t read. If someone asks, “Do you have a Bible?” we confidently reply, “Yes!” But when asked to quote a single verse, silence fills the room. Why? Because though we possess this treasure, we remain empty. The average believer is unfamiliar with the Word—we know opinions, church traditions, and everything else except Scripture. And it shows, especially in how we handle life’s storms. Stay rooted in the Word. Happy Tuesday, family! 🌸
“But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold.”
Jonah 1:4-5 NLT
First of all, this storm was sent by God. It was powerful and violent, threatening to break the ship, meaning it was a serious, life-threatening storm. Many of the storms we face in life feel just as intense. A parent gets diagnosed with a harsh disease. Some storms hit marriages, and people divorce over a storm that was never going to break the marriage, it was just a threat. Some of us go through violent storms, waking up stressed, spending the entire day stressed, and going to bed with no peace at all. These are the storms we face, real, heavy and sometimes very terrifying. No be joke o. No be small thing o.
Many of us instinctively try to solve the problem when a storm hits. We come up with plans just like the sailors did. We always have an ABC plan for what we’ll do when trouble comes. The sailors had a plan too. Their first response was to pray to their gods. They understood that storms have a spiritual dimension. They knew that engaging the supernatural must come first. You pray first. You seek God first. You call upon God first.
Dear believer, before you run around looking for friends and other sources of help, open your mouth and call upon your GOD! If men who worshiped false gods knew to turn to the supernatural first, how much more should you, a child of the True and Living God? The storm is looking for a response and we foolishly give it a fleshly response and think there will be a calm. No. Respond in the spirit!
Thennnn they decided to throw the cargo overboard to lighten the load. For some, that “cargo” is their marriage. Others throw away their Bibles, saying, “I just need a break.” They chose to lose their goods in order to save their lives but at what cost? Imagine the valuable things they lost. Those ships didn’t just carry ordinary goods; some transported gold. Real gold not the kind sitting in your jewellery box! 😂 They turned to a fleshly, impulsive solution—thinking, If we cut this off, we’ll be fine. And we do the same. We throw away our most precious possessions, like the Word of God, and rely on a fleshly plan to fix a spiritual problem. But you will lose.
This storm was not by chance. It wasn’t random. It was a spiritually orchestrated plan to correct a man’s disobedience. But instead of recognising this, the men on the ship went through a terrifying experience. Let me say this, you could be in a storm not because of your own actions, but because of who you’re connected to. If your spouse is disobedient to God, you will feel the impact too. These sailors had absolutely nothing to do with Jonah’s disobedience. They had no idea what was happening, yet they suffered heavy losses simply because they were in the same boat with him.
Check who’s around you. Check their lifestyle. Their decisions could be affecting you. Don’t lose your cargo over a storm that isn’t yours. God may be dealing with a disobedient person in your midst, and unfortunately, the wind is hitting you too. Actually, you could be the disobedient person responsible for the storm happening in your family. You may have thought, I’m the sailor in the story, no, you could be the Jonah.
In any case , Don’t lose your cargo.