# 6 – The Great Cry
Jonah 1:5 – “every man cried out to his god.”We’ve just seen how the mariners, who obviously would have been tough men and who would have weathered many a storm, were so afraid because of the tempest. Now we’re going to look at how they went beyond just experiencing the emotion of fear but see how they expressed their fear and what they did as a result.
As is wont of every human being, when we experience fear, most of us do something as a result. When difficult circumstances are under our control, we do all we can to overcome the situation as smoothly and as quickly as possible, but there are times when things are beyond our control. At that point of our lives, most humans would cry out to God, who has control over all things. As is the case today, so it was in the days of Jonah, the sailors decided to cry out, each man to his god.
When fear is experienced by an entire team, then every member of the team ensures they do something about it and they don’t just leave it to the ‘Captain,’ whoever that might be. That’s great team work actually. When an entire team is in a crisis, we can’t simply pretend all’s well and leave the decision making to the leaders, while we take a back seat, hoping things will turn out well. In such situations, each of us needs to share the responsibility and do all we can to help carry the load together.
1. Every Man
It says, “every man,” meaning, every mariner decided to do something about the situation. They had done all they could as a team, now it was time to do all they could individually. It’s almost always true that when a team is attacked, there’ll come a time when the team no longer matters and one’s own life is all that matters. There are exceptions to this though. There are teams like the police, soldiers, sportsmen, etc., for whom being a team means sticking together no matter what.
- No other option
- We Are One
In The Church too, it’s not often that we realise that we are actually One Family, One Kingdom, One Body, One Church, One Nation, One Building, etc. We tend to think of ourselves as individuals, who are loosely connected with The Church, or completely disconnected from one another, when the Bible teaches us otherwise. That’s why when trouble comes, it becomes so easy to distance ourselves from one another in The Church. The quicker we realise the fact of our oneness, will be begin to work towards living out this unity in the Body of Christ, and the quicker we’ll become a people the world will begin to recognise as belonging to Christ, as was Jesus prayer in John 17:20-21 - “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me." We need to stop living as individuals that don’t belong to The Church of God on the earth and start consciously working together, along with the Body of Christ – locally, nationally and globally. It’s only when that unity starts to play out in The Church across the globe that the world will stop, take note and stream into The Church.
2. Cried out
The words, 'cried out,' has also been translated as 'shouted out' in some versions. Whether it was ‘crying out’ or ‘shouting out,’ it’s not a very common thing in many a culture for a man to shout out or cry out in fear - it’s usually seen as a sign of weakness. Given the location of our story – the Middle-East, it would also suggest a similar culture where men don’t cry out or shout out in fear – unless of course, they were in intense danger. This means that the situation must have been really grim and beyond all hope that they “cried out.” They were calling on their gods for help. When one is crying out to God, one’s gender, social protocol, and any other stereotypes that might describe them are thrown to the winds and one realises that he is crying out for help to someone far bigger than himself. At that point, one’s life is more important than anything else – much less, people’s opinions and societal norms.
- Men are crying out today
There’s a world of men crying out today – may not be literally, but figuratively. They are crying out for attention, for prominence, for popularity, for power and the like. Sadly, such men are not crying out to God, but to the world around them to provide us with those things. They are searching for these things to give them a sense of identity, purpose and meaning, and the more they cry out, the more the farther they seem to be from achieving their goals, and the farther they are, the louder the cries and sadly, when the shouting deafens their own ears, many of them call it a day and end their lives in desperation. This need not be the case – men can call out to God and God will hear, answer and give them the sense of identity, purpose and meaning far greater than they anticipated.
- More God-loving men needed
Not only does the world need to cry out to God, but there’s a huge need for men in The Church to cry out to God too. It’s been proved beyond doubt that many of the problems families face today stem from the absent husband and father. A husband and father who doesn’t play his role in the home, by being with his wife and children, providing love and affection, being a pillar of security in the home, is doing them a great disfavour (even if he is taking care of their financial needs). The wife will start searching outside for what the love and support he was meant to provide her with, and the kids will grow up searching for the security, confidence, direction, example etc that he was meant to be and provide. More often than not, it's in the pursuit of these basic needs that children go astray and don’t find their way back to the fold.
Very often, the responsibility to bring children up to know God personally has been delegated to the mothers, (who already have their hands full with full-time jobs and house work) as if that was their role alone. I’ve know what it is to not have a father in my growing years, let alone the luxury of a good Christian dad. Somebody said, "Anyone can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad."
God-loving Christian men in the home result in boys becoming God-loving husbands and fathers later on in life. They also result in our daughters making wise choices when choosing their husband. Consciously or unconsciously, girls tend to choose a man similar to their fathers.
Let us Christian men in the home rise up and take on the responsibility of being the role models of Christian living. It’s never a weak thing to call out to God to help us be the God-loving husbands and fathers we should be.
3. To his god
The mariners were so filled with fear that they began to cry out, every man to his god. It’s obvious from this statement that the men worshipped several gods and not the one God of the Universe, else the statement would have read, “Every man cried out to God.” Just like people have pets in their homes, many a home has their own gods whom they submit their entire lives to. Paul refers to such people who create their own gods in Romans 1:16-32, when he talks about men rejecting the Creator and worshipping His creation and suffering the consequences thereof. While it is sad and tragic that men would cry out to figments of their imagination – to creations of their fantasy and call them gods, there go we, but for the grace of God, who made Himself known to us personally.
We live in a world that is so pluralistic that it’s hard for a true seeker to find the truth these days. That’s one solid reason why, we who know the truth, need to share it with those who don’t. We’re seeing a lot more openness to the truth during this COVID-19 Pandemic than ever before, and we need to do all we can to proclaim the truth in love while we have the open door.
May the God we’ve come to know be so evident in our lives that those who hold on to other gods will see the difference in our lives and come to know The Way to God (Jesus) through us.
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Michael Collins
Amen ! Thank you Mike for this lovely reminder that we as children of God need to do all we can to proclaim the truth in love so that God is evident in our lives and others will see the difference in our lives and come to know The Way and God through us ! God bless you always !
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Aunty
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