Who is in your boat, and whose boat are you?

Our lives are mostly influenced by a number of things, one of which are the people we relate and live amongst. These relationship can determine the course of our lives, our belief systems, and most especially how far and how well we live out our purposes.
The caption, 'who is in your boat and whose boat are you in', is all about taking a critical look at the people who are a major player in your lives by reason of the kind of relationships we have with them.
These people whose influences on us can be a  major determinant to how well we live out our purposes can be categorized into two kind of people.
Those who contribute to our development and growth and as such those relationships should be encouraged and developed further; and those who drain us.

There were people in Scriptures whose presence in the lives of those they came in contact with brought about some dramatic changes such that their lives were never thesame again. The hereafter condition after encountering such people speaks volume about if their entrance was a blessing or not.

Lately, I kept hearing the caption of this write up, 'who is in your boat, and whose boat are you in'....with special focus on prophet Jonah, king Jehoshaphat and king Ahab and Jesus Christ.

These people affected the lives of the people they were privileged to encounter within a period of time, and the lives of those impacted by such encounters were never thesame again.

A review of three bible characters and the kind of influences they brought into their audience and their audience brought on them has helped opened my eyes to how powerful relationships can be. The Lord will help us keep healthy relationships and jettison any relationship that is a drain and derail us.

Case study 1:
Jonah in the boat with the sailors.

A review of the encounter of the sailors in whose boat Jonah joined at Joppa on his way to Tarshish, a city whose direction is opposite Nineveh, where God commanded him to go and warn the people of an impending danger of destruction because of what they were doing.
Jonah's action of running away came under the wrath of God and by reason of association, brought same trouble to those he was hiding amongst.

Jonah 1: 3 - 4
3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

4 But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.

As I repeatedly hear the words 'who is in your boat, and whose boat are you in'? This made me sit down and reassess the kind of relationships I keep, if they are beneficial or not. I was amazed at what I found after going through the baskets of relationships and people that I have allowed to influence my life.

Jonah in the boat with the sailors brought trouble on them.
Jonah's account has so many dimension to it.
His refusal to go where God sent him to brought about the wrath of God not only on him but also became a source of pain to those he came into their midst while running from God.
His trouble became the trouble of those he was with. By virtue of his presence in their midst, they became partakers of the reward of his disobedience.
May we never be found in the midst of those whom wrath has been decreed!

Jonah not only brought trouble to them, his presence also caused them great losses because they had to throw away most of their wares when the boat almost capsized by reason of the boisterous wind that was sent by God.
Thankfully, they were able to identify the cause of their trouble and when Jonah was cast into the sea, the storm was stilled and the men became afraid of the LORD and came to the realization that no one can save from the LORD'S hands when He is against any.
The men were saved because they came to understand that the storm they were experiencing has a super natural dimension because their efforts to steer the ship out of the raging storm was unyielding and the fearsome storm rages on and on with no sign of abetting.

They came to the point where they knew that someone was responsible and so they decided to cast lots with the purpose of pinpointing the one on whose account they were experiencing such trouble.
The lot fell on Jonah.

Jonah himself provided the solution to calming the storm. He was to be cast into the sea, and a great calm came on the waters immediately he landed on the sea and the men were saved!

Who have you allowed into your boat, and how is it going with you?


Case study 2;
King Jehoshaphat in the boat with king Ahab.

1 King 22
30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “As we go into battle, I will disguise myself so no one will recognize me, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle.

32 So when the Aramean chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat in his royal robes, they went after him. “There is the king of Israel!” they shouted. But when Jehoshaphat called out,
33 the chariot commanders realized he was not the king of Israel, and they stopped chasing him.

The king of Judah paid the king of Isreal a visit, and at that time the king of Isreal decided that it was time for him to take possession of Ramoth Gilead by going to battle with Syria.
He naturally invited the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, whom he called his brother  to help him in the battle.

King Jehoshaphat agreed to go with Ahab king of Isreal to battle against Syria but because king Jehoshaphat feared the Lord, he wanted to hear what God has to say about their going to war against Syria.

All the prophets except one prophesied that king Ahab would be victorious.
Micaiah, whom king Ahab detest because according to Ahab, he never prophesy anything good about him told the king that the battle would be fatal for him if he decided to go.
Despite Micaiah's warning that king Ahab would not return alive in the battle, king Ahab and Jehoshaphat decided to proceed with their battle plans.

The king of Isreal decided that he should disguise himself by not wearing the regalia of a king so as to avert Micaiah doomsday prophecy against him whilst king Jehoshaphat according to Ahab should go into battle in the full regalia of a king!
What an advice!
Unfortunately, king Jehoshaphat never saw anything wrong with this advice.
He followed to the latter the advice of Ahab king of Isreal by going to the battle fully dressed as a king, whilst his counter part was disguised.

This arrangement by Ahab almost cost king Jehoshaphat his life because the king of Syria had commanded his entire army to fight against only the king of Isreal.
Seeing king Jehoshaphat in battle fully dressed  as a king, they thought he was the king of Isreal and so they all went after him.
When king Jehoshaphat saw that the battle was turned against him, he cried out that he was not the king of Isreal. The soldiers that were after him finally left off pursuing him when they realized that he wasn't king Ahab; for they had quarrel only with the king of Isreal, Ahab.

Any relationship like that of king Jehoshaphat and kingAhab that makes
you to be something other than you are is a threat and should not be encouraged.
King Ahab's advice for king Jehoshaphat to put on his kingly regalia to the battle whilst he disguise in thesame battle seems harmless but looking at it critically one is forced to conclude that he planned for Jehoshaphat to die in battle instead of himself; for why else would he tell king Jehoshaphat to go to  battle dressed as a king in a battle he initiated himself whilst he disguises?
God showed Jehoshaphat mercy because he was a good man and king Ahab eventually was wounded in battle, and this eventually lead to his death even as prophesied by Micaiah the prophet.

A thorough evaluation of the relationships we keep to determine if they are worth keeping at all is a most do.
Any relationship that drains you, takes away your right to life and freedom and enclaves one needs to be redefined or even severed.

As I write this, I realised sadly that most of the relationships surrounding me are just like the ones kept by king Jehoshaphat and king Ahab. May the LORD keep us safe from every evil and draining relationship.

Case study 3
The disciples of Jesus in the boat with Jesus.

Matthew 8
24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.

The above scriptures clearly brought to light the importance of association.
Jesus was sleeping soundly in the boat when they were returning from an outreach and suddenly the storm descended on them with a rage that was so fierce that the boat was at the verge of breaking.
The disciple overcome with fear decided to wake up Jesus.
When Jesus awake, and saw the bosterious waves, he simply rebuked the wind and the waves calmed down.
Reflecting on Jesus' composure as he woke up from sleep to meet a fearsome sight as described in Scriptures, one would have thought he would be confused as he slowly come to terms with the situation at hand. But no, he brought peace to the heart of those troubled, harassed and distressed by the fierce storm.
Jesus brought peace and not confusion or distress to the hearts of the people who had come into his life.
Any relationship you benefit nothing from should be re-assessed, redefined, re-categorized and placed where it belongs.

Who is in the boat with you is about taking stock of our lives and weeding if necessary anything that doesn't belong there and planting in place of the weeded what we want to see in our lives.


Shalom!