Jonah 1:4-6 - How can you sleep?

1:4

Jonah had his plan, but God had His plan. It is sometimes said that if one individual or group of people won’t fulfil God’s calling then He will find another individual or group who will. There is an element of truth in this, but it is also an element of it being a load of nonsense. Jonah was most reluctant to fulfil God’s calling on his life, but God was persistent in getting Jonah to preach the word to Nineveh, going to extraordinary lengths. And we see this pattern elsewhere. Moses was a reluctant leader, making excuse after excuse in Ex 3 and 4, yet God persisted. Peter failed Jesus, but Jesus restored Him. So in this case a mighty storm brewed up, endangering the ship.

1:5

The ship’s crew were normal pagans, having various gods. So they prayed to whichever god they happened to worship. They also took practical action, throwing off the cargo to lighten the load. This latter aspect would tend to imply that Jonah had only paid for his passage rather than hiring the whole boat. Jonah, meanwhile, was fast asleep. Remember that Jesus also slept while a boat was experiencing severe storms. Jonah had faith in God!

1:6

The captain is none-too pleased with Jonah’s sleeping and orders him to call on his God. The sailors were desperate. Their calls on the their own gods, and the captain’s instruction to Jonah to pray to his God were acts of desperation, rather than faith.