But Jonah ran away from the Lord

But Jonah ran away from the Lord

Scripture:

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. Joshua 1:1-3a

Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him Joshua 1:14-16

Observation: In this well known story of the Bible, we begin with Jonah, the prophet of the Lord given a most unsavory assignment – to preach to the great city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. At that time, it was said to be the largest city of the known world, and the gardens of Nineveh were considered one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Nineveh was also renown for its terrible sinfulness. Assyria was a constant threat to Israel and later would carry off the Israelites into exile.

At first sight, it seems that Jonah ran away from this assignment because of cowardice, perhaps afraid at the terrible things the Ninevites might do to him when he proclaimed this message. However, when we see his angry response later when Nineveh surprisingly repented, we see that his motive was not cowardice but rather not wanting Nineveh to be saved.

However, when Jonah tried to flee by ship to Tarshish, the Lord sent a great storm and the sailors were forced to throw Jonah overboard to save themselves.

This study we want to focus on 3 main things we can learn from the first chapter. Firstly, we can’t fight against God’s will. Jonah tried to fight against God’s will by human means but failed. God is all seeing and all knowing. We can try to run away from God, we can try to hide but He always finds us. We cannot have true peace and purpose until we surrender to His will. Saul in his zealousness went all out to make war against the Christians, when the Lord appeared to Him and said “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It’s hard for you to kick against the goads” Acts 26:14.  (A goad is a stick with a pointed piece of iron fastened to the end of it. This instrument is used to prod the oxen on when they are plowing. When a stubborn ox attempted to kick back against the goads (pricks), he would actually wound himself.) In other words, Jesus was telling Saul that it was useless to fight against His will.

Secondly, God loves even the most unlovable. The Assyrians in Nineveh must have been the most detested people in the whole world at that time because of their cruelty and wickedness. Still, despite their sins, the book of Jonah shows that God loves even the worse sinners and wants them to come back to repentance.

Thirdly, God can turns bad situations to good ones. By sending the storm for Jonah and stilling it after Jonah was thrown overboard, He displayed His awesome power in front of the sailors, who developed a new found respect and awe of the God of the Hebrews, the Lord who made the sea and the dry land.

Application: Some of us may have received a particular calling from God that we may be fighting against for various reasons. Some of us might be trying to run away, to try and ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit. However, in time, we need to realize that we are just kicking against the goads, and it is our destiny and purpose to come back to God’s will. There may be some people in our lives that we cannot quite help but detest or dislike. However, we need to remind ourselves that God still loves them, and that we need to learn to love them too. No matter how bad a situation, remember that God can still make it something special and useful for His glory. Trust in Him and wait for His purposes to be revealed.

Prayer: Father God, help me to understand what it means to pray “Not my will, but yours be done”. Curb the rebelliousness of my heart O Lord, help me to submit to Your will. Help me love everyone O Lord, even those who hurt me most. I cannot do it on my own, but in You O Lord, I am able to love. Thank You, Lord, that even in my worst situations, You are there with me, and You are always able to make the ugly beautiful. Bless You O Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.