We all know the story of Jonah, and the getting swallowed by a fish is the most famous part. But I'm going to stop the story before that.
Jonah ran away from God. Deceitful, disobedient, just plain wrong. This was a BAD thing. God sent a storm upon the ship and each person on the ship prayed to their personal god. Jonah said, "throw me overboard it's my fault!" The crewman of the ship didn't want to do that, and tried to row to land, but the storm got even crazier than before. So they said, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." They threw Jonah overboard and the sea became calm. We all know what happened to Jonah, but listen to what happened to the people on the ship - "At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him." Never mind all those personal gods - THIS God had just shown his greatness!
God could even use Jonah's disobedience to gather more followers! Not only did Jonah go to Nineveh and THEY repented - the people on the ship all made vows to the God who spared their ship!
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