Trusting God for Who He Is, Not for What He Can Give

[The sailors] recognize Yahweh as God before he has shown that he will not hold them guilty for Jonah's death, and before the storm has abated. Because their religious transformation is evident before they derive any demonstrable benefit from it, it cannot be motivated by pragmatism or self-preservation. In short, they revere Yahweh for who he is, not for what he can give them.

--Daniel C. Timmer, A Gracious and Compassionate God: Mission, Salvation and Spirituality in the Book of Jonah (New Studies in Biblical Theology; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2011), 72.