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. Jonah 1:3 (NLT)
Most of us know the story of Jonah. He was a prophet. God called him to go and give a message to the citizens of a city called Nineveh. Nineveh was a great enemy to Jonah's people but God wanted to extend mercy to them and Jonah refused to go. Eventually Jonah did go and proclaim God's message to the Ninevites and they repented of their actions.
The most famous part of this story is Jonah's experience with a big fish (or whale). The part we miss sometimes happens early in the story. Jonah has a choice to make, follow God or go his own way. Instead of following what God wanted to do he chose a destination the exact opposite direction from where God wanted him to go.
We also have the choice that Jonah had. We can choose to follow God or go our own way. Many times in our lives we are just like Jonah, we choose to go against God. We may feel that God has asked us to do something too large or something beyond our abilities. Jonah probably felt the same thing. No doubt, he did not like the group of people that God called him to, but he also probably feared for his life and probably doubted his ability to do what God called him to do.
When we find ourselves in these positions of following God or fleeing lets consider what David wrote:
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there (Psalm 139 NLT)
The path away from God may seem the easiest. If we follow God he will be there with us and guide us through any situation. If we follow God's lead, while not always the easiest, I will promise it will be worth it. His ways give us a purpose and a mission something we cannot give ourselves.
What is God challenging you to do today?
3 comments:
I agree that when people talk about the story of Jonah they tend to focus almost excusively on his miraculous stay in the belly of a whale. Of course, Jonah displayed some questionable decision making throughout his story, and even when he did finally decide to serve the Lord he did so with a somewhat bitter heart.
Recall that Jonah was angry with God's compassion on the Ninevites after they repented (Jonah 4). Even though he served the Lord, Jonah did so reluctantly and with a heart that was less than enthusiastic for doing God's work. Thus, an additional lesson from this short book, in my opinion, is that the attitude and motivations of the is just as important as the work we are doing for God.
Attitude is key to everything. The Bible says that our actions come from the overflow of our heart.
I think that speaks volumes about God. I think He is consistently more interested in the heart than anything else. We often focus on the exterior, the material, the physical resources and skills before we tackle any project God gives us. What we often overlook is that if we want to serve God in our heart, then everything we do will be a service to God and God will equip us to serve Him.
Many times in our lives we constantly think that we can escape God by running away, such as Jonah did. But to often we forget that God is everywhere and knows our intentions well before we even do! If Jonah would have done what God had asked of him in the first place, would it have changed anything? We would not have seen the amazing grace of Almighty God and the life lessons that we should take away from it.
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