“Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.” - Jonah 1:5

We know from reading Jonah’s story that he ran from God. When God called him to go preach to the city of Nineveh, Jonah said no and ran the complete opposite way. He got on a boat that was set to take him to Tarshish. But there was just one problem; he couldn’t outrun God. Being the omnipresent God that He is, the Lord was with Jonah as he was on the boat.

And so God sent a storm. We don’t know if this was a hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone. All we know is that on weatherchannel.com there was not a storm on the radar when these brothers got in the boat, but then somebody got on the boat and a storm popped up. at the moment the storm hits, these brothers are fearful.

The captain of the vessel now finds Jonah asleep at the bottom of the boat. Jonah 1:5 says, “Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.”

It was storming…how was Jonah asleep? Because sin is exhausting. Jonah wasn’t sleeping because he needed a Sunday afternoon nap. He was exhausted because he was running and fleeing the presence of God and it sapped every bit of strength out of him.

The same thing happened to David in Psalm 51. As he refused to confess his sin with Bathsheba, his body began to waste away. Sin is exhausting. And here is a spoiler alert; you will never get a second wind.

When you choose to sin, it will cost you. It will also exhaust you. The question is, when will you decide enough is enough? When will you get sick and tired of being sick and tired? Sin has had its rein. It’s time to give God control!