“In the Heart of the Sea”, a book written in 2000, and a movie starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor in the Avengers) made in 2015, tells the tale of the survivors of the wreck of the Essex. It tells the story of a real event involving a whaling ship that was attacked and sunk by an enraged whale in 1819, and became the inspiration for Melville’s “Moby Dick”, After it was sunk the survivors were stranded at sea for 90 days and resorted to cannibalism to survive. Why Thor couldn’t smash some puny whale doesn’t make any sense.

Today’s Morning Minutes in the Bible returns to the good king Jehoshaphat and one of his few mistakes that resulted in God’s direct judgment. Specifically in the destruction of ships he built in an alliance with Ahab’s son, Ahaziah. 2 Chronicles 20:35-37 tells how Jehoshaphat “acted wickedly” by forging the alliance and how God’s prophet, Eliezer, rebuked him for the alliance, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works.” The passage ends with “So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.”

In today’s world many would take the whale’s side and argue that the whalers got what they deserved. In their judgment the whalers were evil and the whale executed justice for their sins. Yet many of those same people would argue that God was harsh in His judgment of Jehoshaphat. How bad could an alliance with Israel’s king be, they ask. (We’ll soon find out just how bad it could be, but that’s for later) Some even go so far as to argue that God had no right to judge Jehoshaphat, or even that it was immoral for Him to act that way. And never see the glaring inconsistency. For all who would judge God for judging Jehoshaphat please explain how you have the right to judge God for judging man? Think about the absurdity and irrationality of condemning whalers for killing whales, while condemning God for condemning wicked men.

What this tells us is everyone knows there is a standard of right and wrong, even those who loudly deny it. The act of denying any standard requires belief in a standard. So forgive me but I must reject you and your opinion as the standard of right and wrong. But don’t worry, I must reject myself as the standard as well since I’m no better than you in that regard. Instead, let’s recognize God as the standard by which everyone is judged; Jehoshaphat, you, and me. And because of our sin we all deserve condemnation. We all deserve the destruction of every ship we build in alliance with defiant sinners. So, rather than sailing with sinners, which only ends with us stranded at sea, turn to Jesus who will rescue us from the destruction we deserve.