Jonah 1:12-13 And he said to them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm to you… It is certain that in all general adversities God has some purpose to accomplish with all those that suffer. But it is no less true that individual persons may be particularly aimed at. A few years ago the great steamship Austria, crowded with emigrants, was burned far out at sea, and only a few of the passengers were saved. Of these some after wards published reports of the terrible event. One thrilling narrative was from the pen of a young man who had sunk very low in debauchery, frivolity, and scorn of all higher things. And this is what he said of himself: "I do not understand the ways of the Eternal; but I do know this, that it needed a terrible catastrophe to awaken me from my deathlike sleep. Nothing less than such awful event would have driven me from the path of ruin; and in the midst of all the frightful agony of the scene, an inward voice seemed to say to me, 'This is all for your sake, that your soul may be dragged from destruction.'" So also a Prussian musketeer who on the battlefield of Sadowa had both his legs shot off, said to me, "I can never reveal my sins to any human being; but believe me, that only in that way could I be plucked as a brand from the burning. As far as I am concerned, I know why the war had to come." (Pastor Funcke.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. |
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