Where Revival Starts

Tarshish is about as far away from Nineveh as you can get. Yet that’s where Jonah went when God told him to go to the city of Nineveh and preach. He boarded a boat going in the opposite direction.

As a result, God sent a storm that was so bad, it even alarmed the seasoned sailors. They tried to figure out why this storm had come and realized the culprit was a passenger named Jonah. They brought him up on deck and asked him what was going on.

Jonah told them he was an Israelite and served the Lord God of Israel. This was the miracle-working God, the same God who parted the Red Sea, drowned the entire Egyptian army, and sent supernatural food from Heaven. So they said to Jonah, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?” (Jonah 1:11 NJKV).

Jonah told them that if they threw him overboard, the storm would stop. They kept trying to row to land with no success, so eventually they threw him overboard. Then a great fish swallowed Jonah.

Now, was this God’s way of getting even? Was He saying, “All right, Jonah. You messed up. It’s payback time”? That is how some people see God. But God doesn’t deal with people that way, especially His own children.

This wasn’t about getting even. This was about disciplining one of His own kids. Because God loves us, He will discipline us when we go astray. God’s discipline is preparation for a future task. His discipline tells us that He has something more for us to do. And if you are one of God’s kids, He will discipline you.

God was preparing Jonah for his greatest work yet, and He revived and recommissioned Jonah.

In the same way, revival starts with you. It starts with me. And nothing can happen through us until it has first happened to us.