We Want Our Way

Ja 1:5
5 But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

Mk 4:38
38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

Both men, Jonah and Jesus, in entirely separate periods of time; one convinced they are right in their way and the other right, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.

Ja 1:9 ‘and I fear the LORD’

Trust. A ‘trust’ sandwich full of faith to believe that God! Will we trust God when our judgment, mercy, and faith disagree? Jonah and God had this conversation:

Ja 4:2-4
2 And he 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.
3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

For the glory of God, I’ll also add from Exodus:

Ex 34:6-7
6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Ja 4:4 ‘take, I beseech thee, my life from me’

Godly reverence, fear, trust, sovereignty, ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ There’s a myriad of biblical scriptures and understandings to convey what we ought consider, but the question is do we truly fear God? Are there things we’d rather cleave to? Dogmas, doctrines, beliefs, of our own will and way?

When we say we ‘fear God’, do we acquiesce toward His ways and thoughts? Fear is a statement: God is before, ahead, and we have forgotten what’s behind to reach for Him in faith. His will and way are better that we be not as Boanerges; not desiring our way that seems right but, rather, the right way that leads unto paths of righteousness.

Let’s not fear who God is but truly fear God knowing His sovereignty can be trusted.