The Fear of the LORD

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And 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.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the LORD, “O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Jonah 1:7-16

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). What does it mean to fear God? It can be difficult to think through how to rightly fear God. He is God after all, but what is the difference between fear of God and fear of something else? Well, when we look at our passage, there is a lot of fear taking place. The two types of fear we see come from Jonah and the sailors on the ship. I would argue that both kinds of fear presented at first are not the kind of fear we are to have towards God.

First, looking at the sailors, there are three instances when they say they are afraid (v. 5, 10, and 16). They became initially afraid when the storm came up against them. Then, after Jonah had told them that he was fleeing from the LORD, they became exceedingly afraid. They knew Jonah was the reason God brought this storm upon them, and they were highly motivated to respond in light of that. Meanwhile, the fear that Jonah had only led him to go to sleep. When Jonah was woken up and questioned by the captain, everything that Jonah said in response was true, except that he feared God. Clearly, at this point in the story, the only resemblance of true fear of God was had by the sailors. While they didn’t know fully the character of God, they knew that He was in charge, and that was more than Jonah could say based on his initial actions.

I would like to argue that both the sailors and Jonah got there in the end when we think about true fear of the LORD. While we never hear about the sailors specifically coming to faith, we see their third statement of being fearful led them to make sacrifices and vows at the end of the chapter. On the other hand, Jonah seems to remember the God whom he had previously claimed to worship shown through his actions of confession and sacrificing himself. True repentance is turning from one’s ways, resulting in an inward and outward change. Reverence is acting out of the overflow of what has impacted a person. Jonah’s reverence for God here leads him to understand that God is in control, and he needs to respond to God’s call.

Frankly, I completely understand Jonah’s moment of hiding and preservation. How often do we act or respond to something with our own power as the primary source? Sometimes it takes a storm to remind a person just how powerful God is. Sometimes it takes a beautiful sunset, encouraging conversation, incredible meal, or a miraculous comeback from your football team. The important thing to consider in every situation in life is what we know to be true about our God. He is, as Jonah says later on, “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Jonah 4:2). In every storm of life that we encounter, we can have peace knowing that God is with us, and He is working in all things for His glory and our ultimate good (Genesis 50:20; Philippians 2:13).