I love how God uses Jonah's story to show that He can use any means that He chooses to get our attention. First, he calls out to Jonah. He tells him in verse 2 to "get up!" & go to Ninevah to call them out on their sin. But Jonah is afraid & tries to run away from God. I think most of the time what God calls us to might also cause us to fear. Think about all the times in the Bible that God sends an angel with a message for someone. Many of those times, their first words are "fear not." What God calls us to can be big & scary & way out of our comfort zones.
So first, the Lord Himself speaks to Jonah. Jonah runs, boards a ship in the opposite direction of where God called him to go, & a huge storm arises. While this storm is going on, where is Jonah? Sound asleep in the bottom of the boat. He was completely unaware of what God was orchestrating all around him. Then in verse 6, the captain comes up to Jonah, still sleeping, & says again "get up!" I love that the captain, not a believer, uses the exact same words with Jonah that God used when He first called him to go to Ninevah. Get up.
God doesn't need us to accomplish His purposes. With our cooperation or not, His purpose prevails. He could've easily chosen another vessel to take His message to Ninevah, but He invited Jonah to be a part of this plan. When we say "no" to God, we're hurting ourselves. He delights in using us to play a role in his grand story, but He doesn't need us to get from point A to point B.
Sometimes God uses a storm. Sometimes He uses another person. Sometimes He uses a big fish. But He knows how to get our attention. And often once He does, the first step is to get up. We don't have to understand the whole plan. We don't have to know steps A-Z. We just have to get up & obey. We have to have the faith that God is going to carry us along this journey.
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