Running Away From God

December 10

Jonah 1-2

Psalm 139:13-18

Proverbs 29:13-14

Revelation 4

Running Away From God

“Yet Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.  So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, and paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.”  Jonah 1:3 LSB 

The book began with Jonah receiving specific instructions from the Lord.  “Arise, go to Ninevah, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Jonah 1:2 LSB   Jonah is the only Hebrew prophet sent to a Gentile nation.  This is the first time in Scripture that we find God seeking out Gentiles to follow Him.  Ninevah was the capital city of the Assyrian empire, which had a reputation for strength and brutality.  Jonah knew the Assyrians well.  He had no doubt heard countless stories of their cruelty and evil against Israel and he wanted God to punish them, not give them an opportunity to repent.  God calling Jonah to go to Ninevah was like God telling us to go to the Middle East and preach to Hamas or Hezbollah. Geographically, Tarshish was west, and Ninevah was northeast, nearly in the exact opposite direction.  Jonah ran from God’s call and thought he could run away from God’s presence, but he ran into a big storm and paid a huge price for his disobedience. 

God planned a perfect storm for the purpose of intercepting the runaway prophet.  It must have been a huge storm because it frightened the seasoned sailors on board the ship.  While living completely out of the will of God, Jonah was asleep in the bottom of the ship.  He must have been in turmoil for days trying to figure out how he was going to get out of what God was telling him to do.  But then he made his decision, picked a destination as far as he could away from what God was telling him to do, bought a ticket and got on the ship.  He had made up his mind and chosen to disobey.  He got on the ship and went to sleep.  He probably had not slept for days so now he thought he could rest.  Unfortunately, Jonah did not take into account that there is nowhere we can go to hide from God.  “Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend to Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.  If I lift up the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.” Psalm 139:7-9 LSB   We cannot escape Him.  God “found” Jonah and persuaded him to do what he was told.  Jonah agreed and Ninevah believed in God and repented.  God knows what He is doing.  His will is going to be accomplished.  We can choose to disobey Him and run from Him but in the end, He will prevail.  Our best option is just to go along with Him and obey.  He knows what is best for us.  Often, we cannot understand God’s plans.  He may not tell us why things happen or why He wants us to do something, but we can be assured that He has a plan and a reason.  We just have to trust Him and obey.  It is never a good idea to run away from God.   It is always better to run to Him and submit to what He tells us to do.