Today's Thinker: Jonah

So we're told that Jonah runs from God, "as far away from God as he could get," according to The Message. Yet in the middle of the most furious storm the ship crew has ever seen, Jonah is below sound asleep. We wonder: How can you sleep through The Perfect Storm?

Some have asserted that he was scared of what would happen to him, and therefore fell asleep. But that makes no sense. When someone's scared, they don't sleep, they walk the floor, panic, repent. Jonah sleeps.

What was he thinking? Think about this. Perhaps Jonah was so sure that he was right, and that God's idea was ridiculous, that he could sleep soundly without his conscience bothering him at all. After all, God had asked him to travel into an hostile environment and deliver a message which could get him killed -- or, if obeyed, could save one of Israel's worst enemies.

Jonah says no, rebels against God's plan, thinking all along that his plan is much better -- for all involved -- than God's plan.

Ever thought like that?