God is bigger

in my monday night bible study we are talking about the book of Jonah this week. first you should know that our bible study is a study on how to study the bible well- by using observation, interpretation, and application. we are spending a good bit of our time in the observation part and are reading the book of Jonah for this week's study. in this week's assignment, we were to observe different parts of this story. reading this over and over again and with the "observation" mentality, i read this story differently than i ever have before. last night, i was observing the storm that happened while Jonah was on the ship after he decided to flee from God. the assignment was to "list every description of the storm- in order of its appearance in text. what do you observe"?
these were my observations:
The Lord was in control of the storm- HE hurled a great wind upon the sea.
God's hand was in the storm in creating a "mighty tempest" on the sea- so strong that the ship threatened to break up.
The sea became more tempestuous (which means it was characterized by strong and turbulent or conflicting emotion---online dictionary---)
As the sailors tried more and more to control the situation by throwing cargo over the ship and running around, the sea grew more tempestuous.

now, this is my own interpretation of the text, but the first thing that stood out to me and has stuck with my since i read this last night was GOD was in control of the storm. He was the one who hurled the storm and the winds that was throwing the ship around...i think of the "storms" in life, where i have no control and feel like my life is being thrown around in the sea, but God is here in the storm in the book of Jonah, He is the one in control of it. how comforting that is. and also as the sailors tried to take control, the sea and winds became worse...until they finally cried out to the one true God to save them.
how many times am i like the sailors...when my life is being tossed by the unconstant throws of life, and all i know to do is call out to God. a friend told me lately how she has learned in her "storm" and in this season of her life, that God is her only constant.
i'm thankful that God is in control of the storm...He is in the midst of them. and He hears my call to Him, even when i am like the sailors.