Are You Running From God?
Are You Running From God? | November 19, 2023
A lie has existed from the beginning of time, saying, "Running from God doesn't cost you anything." However, that distortion of the truth causes more chaos and harm than anything else. See, there is always a price to pay when you run from God. Whether you chase sin or run from His calling for you, it will cost you. Jonah, God's servant and prophet, struggled with the latter. When the Lord called him to go to Nineveh, he responded by trying to go approximately 2,500 miles in the opposite direction!
Jonah 1:1-3, "The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai: 2 'Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.' 3 Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord's presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord's presence."
God communicated to Jonah uniquely and divinely the commission to go to Nineveh and share a repentance message. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, which happened to be the infamous nemesis of Israel. The "evil" (mentioned in Jonah 1:2) that came before the Lord was the Assyrians' atrocities against the Jews. Thus, Jonah's reluctance stemmed from his thought that the Ninevites deserved God's wrath, not His mercy. Also, he probably figured that his life would be in jeopardy, considering how harshly the Assyrians treated his fellow countrymen. So he boarded a ship to Tarshish, most likely navigated by Phoenician sailors, to get as far away from God's mission as possible. However, he didn't make much progress.
Notice that Jonah "paid the fare" to board the ship. That phrase is both symbolic and significant because there is always a price associated with our rebellion. When you run from God toward sin, you may pay with your reputation, career, prosperity, health, or even family. On the other hand, if you run from your calling, you may find yourself in a problematic situation similar to where Jonah found himself later in this chapter.
Therefore, refuse to buy the lies that push you away from God and seek to do everything God's way. Get in the Scriptures daily, join a Bible Study, pray, and attend church regularly.
Jonah 1:1-3, "The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai: 2 'Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.' 3 Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord's presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord's presence."
God communicated to Jonah uniquely and divinely the commission to go to Nineveh and share a repentance message. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, which happened to be the infamous nemesis of Israel. The "evil" (mentioned in Jonah 1:2) that came before the Lord was the Assyrians' atrocities against the Jews. Thus, Jonah's reluctance stemmed from his thought that the Ninevites deserved God's wrath, not His mercy. Also, he probably figured that his life would be in jeopardy, considering how harshly the Assyrians treated his fellow countrymen. So he boarded a ship to Tarshish, most likely navigated by Phoenician sailors, to get as far away from God's mission as possible. However, he didn't make much progress.
Notice that Jonah "paid the fare" to board the ship. That phrase is both symbolic and significant because there is always a price associated with our rebellion. When you run from God toward sin, you may pay with your reputation, career, prosperity, health, or even family. On the other hand, if you run from your calling, you may find yourself in a problematic situation similar to where Jonah found himself later in this chapter.
Therefore, refuse to buy the lies that push you away from God and seek to do everything God's way. Get in the Scriptures daily, join a Bible Study, pray, and attend church regularly.
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