O Sleeper, Arise, Call Upon Thy God

One of the themes of the book of Jonah is the power and importance of prayer. We see this first in the attitude of the mariners when the great storm came upon them. They did not know Jehovah, but they still sought heavenly help: “[They] cried every man unto his god.” Jonah, who did know Jehovah, was somehow sleeping through the storm, was rebuked for his inaction. The “shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not” (Jonah 1:5-6). I love that this gentile had that kind of faith to insist to Jonah that he pray to his God for help from the storm. His words should be a reminder to all of us to pray more earnestly and more often when there is trouble around us. Especially when there are difficulties that we feel we can do nothing about, we should hear his call to us: “What meanest though, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God!” Too often we are mentally asleep instead of earnestly seeking Him in prayer for help when serious challenges surround us. And too often I am literally sleeping when I should be praying—falling asleep at night on my knees—and I should hear in my mind in that moment this reprimand from a gentile shipmaster: “O sleeper, Arise, call upon thy God!”

                We see several other examples of prayer in the book of Jonah. After the mariners figured out that Jonah was the reason for the storm, and Jonah insisted that they throw him over, they prayed again: “Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee” (Jonah 1:14). They were concerned with doing wrong, and so they prayed to Him hoping that their actions with Jonah were acceptable before Him. The 2^nd chapter of Jonah is almost entirely a prayer from Jonah to the Lord while he was in the belly of the fish. He pled, “For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me…. I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” The Lord heard his cries, even from the insides of a fish, and “the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:3, 9-10). Jonah’s prayer was sincere and pleading and shows that he did know how to seek the Lord. He was given a second chance because of his earnest petition.

                After Jonah subsequently called the people of Ninevah to repentance, we have two more examples of prayer to the Lord. The first came surprisingly from this pagan people. The king declared, “But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” (Jonah 3:8-9) This wicked nation had been pricked by the Spirit to seek the Lord and so they cried mightily to God that He would spare them, which indeed He did. Finally, in the last chapter Jonah again “prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:2-3). Here again he prayed earnestly, though his words showed his animosity towards the people of Ninevah. The Lord did not grant his petition to die but rather taught Jonah a lesson with a gourd and attempted to help him see the error of his attitude. Just as the Lord did not give up on Ninevah, He did not give up on Jonah and the prophet’s prayer was answered with divine correction. The book of Jonah is a powerful message that we must seek the Lord through earnest prayer—He will hear us and help us as we seek His blessings and forgiveness.