ESOCS Devotional 29 July 2025 – God is Everywhere, For All People
MEMORY VERSE: “He answered, ‘I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.’” Jonah 1:9 NIV
TEXT: JONAH 1:1-17
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
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Jehovah, the Lord God of the Bible, is Lord over all the earth (Psalms 47:2; 83:18). In other words, He is the God of all nations and wants salvation proclaimed to all peoples of the world (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:8). Moreover, by insisting that Jonah must go to Nineveh to preach, God further proved Himself to be a universal God. Moreover, He showed that He was interested in all citizens of the earth, everywhere in the world, besides Israel.
What’s more, when Jonah tried to escape, thereby dodging the assignment, the Lord sent a storm. By this act, God made Jonah to realize that His authority was everywhere. Come to think of it, even from the belly of a great fish, Jonah was still able to reach the Almighty God through prayer. What a mighty God we serve? The pagan sailors also prayed, and even sacrificed to the Lord at sea (v. 14). Then the people of Nineveh, a heathen nation, repented before God, and were forgiven.
It is interesting to note that these pagan sailors had the same response to the calming of the sea as the disciples of Jesus, when He calmed the waves (Matthew 14:22-43). They also realized that the God of Jonah had control of the seas, and all the elements therein. Besides, and in spite of Jonah’s flight from his missionary responsibility to Nineveh, here, he became a witness to the wonders of God among a group of pagan sailors, who did not know the true God.
The Lord God of all creations, who created all things and controls all things, is also at liberty to employ all things as He wishes. He made a dwelling place for Jonah in the belly of the fish, in order to give him time to come to his senses. Through the same fish, God provided a vehicle to transport Jonah to Nineveh, according to His will. There is none like unto our God. Hallelujah!
CHALLENGES
- Our God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Who is like unto Him?
PRAYER POINT
- Lord God of our fathers, give me the grace to know you the more.
FURTHER READING: Obadiah 1:15-21; Mark 6:1-12; 6:13-30.
ESOCS Devotional 29 July 2025
