Running From God

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Wednesday, September 4, 2013   Jeff Lampl

 

“ The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:  'Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.'  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 1:1-3 (NLT)

Jonah is one of the great stories in the Bible.  Through this story God cuts right through all of our human pretense and reveals to us who we are over and against who God is.  

The story sucks us in immediately.   Jonah learns that God wants him to do what he decides is simply impossible.  Ninevah is full of evil.  He hates Ninevites.  He values his own skin.  Easy decision!  Ninevah is directly to the east.   Jonah goes directly west.   Not only is Tarshish to the west, it was also located on the west coast of Spain, the outer limits of the known world!    

Jonah is us.    At least he’s me.   There are people I want to avoid going to, things I want to avoid doing.   There are times I’d rather see someone get their “just deserts” than see them saved.  There is this thing in me called sin which God over and over and over again calls me to overcome and through a sheer act of the will do the opposite of what I want to do.     

Jonah headed for Tarshish.   Shipwreck, three days in a whale, repentance and finally obedience lead Jonah to risk following God.   And miracle of miracles, Jonah finds success right in the midst of his obedience.  

We all have this choice perhaps even weekly.   Go my own way and find shipwreck (or sometimes an unfulfilling escape in the comfort of Tarshish) or go God’s way and, although often hard, find success within God’s will. 

 

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