“What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.”— Jonah 1:66So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. (Jonah 1:6).
THE foregoing words were spoken to a runaway sleeper. The Lord had told Jonah to go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, instead of which he fled from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa. He there found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
A storm arose, and Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was “fast asleep.” He next went down to the bottom of the sea.
Such is the path of the sinner, always downwards. Such is yours, my dear unconverted reader. Away from God, and slumbering in your sins, unless you wake up, you will soon be in the depths of an eternal hell. May God in His mercy wake you up. “What meanest thou?” said the shipmaster to Jonah.
What meanest thou, dear Christless one? Dost thou mean to die in thy sins? Arise, it is high time to bestir thyself. Death is approaching, thou hast a holy God to meet. Thou art disregarding the mercy of God, and slighting the Saviour’s blood.
“Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not,” said the shipmaster to Jonah. You cannot say that, for you will find, dear reader, when you call upon God that He has already thought of you. He thought of you before the world was created, and planned a great salvation for you.
He has accomplished it all in the death and blood shedding of His own beloved Son. Such is His great heart of love. That blessed One is risen from the dead and lives at God’s right hand, a Saviour for you. Forgiveness, peace with God, and eternal glory, through the crucified, risen, and glorified Jesus, may be yours if you only turn to Him in faith.
As one who loves your soul, let me plead with you. Be in earnest now, do not delay. Life’s voyage will soon be over. Where will you spend eternity? Be no longer a runaway sleeper, turn to God and perish not. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
“What meanest thou?” my reader.
“Do you mean to miss
Eternal bliss?
Do you mean to know
Eternal woe?”
J. H.