Keep your eyes on the horizon

Jonah 1
11The 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.” 

Kaitlin Wernet writes of this Bible event on Shereadstruth.com. Here is an excerpt from what she wrote. She introduced the topic by telling us that her family made a yearly fishing trip and she was extremely seasick because of the storm on this particular trip:

 “What should we do to you to calm this sea that’s against us?” they asked Jonah (Jonah 1:11). 

I remember asking the first mate of the fishing boat a similar question. Surely there was a pill, lotion, elixir, balm, trick, cure—something, anything to soothe the sickness. His answer couldn’t have been more frustrating. “Look to the horizon,” he said. “Don’t look anywhere else until it’s over.”

Look to the horizon. Don't look anywhere else! That was the advice to help her calm down and make it through the storm. If we look at Jonah, as soon as he was thrown overboard, the storm stopped. There was a storm because of a Jonah's disobedience to God. Jonah had turned his back on the horizon. On God. He was in the middle if a horrible storm because of his disobedience. Once he owned up to his sin, disobedience to God, the storm was over!

Many times we are in the middle of "storms" because if our disobedience also. During those times, we need to turn our focus back to the horizon of Jesus Christ and His forgiveness of our wrongs. We can learn and grow from our mistakes if we turn back to Christ.

However, many times we are in the storms of life for other reasons beyond our control or knowledge. In these times, if we keep our eyes on the horizon, Jesus Christ, also, we will come through it wiser and stronger than ever.

We don't always know why things are happening, but we do know who is in charge...God. We can rest peacefully in everything that happens by keeping our eyes on Him no matter what!

Father, thank you for loving us enough to correct us, forgiving us of our wrongs, and giving us your peace. Amen.