Running Away from God

So he (Jonah) paid the fare and went on board with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. (Jonah 1 :3b)

Jonah 1; Ps. 139:9-10; Prov. 15:3; Isa. 43:2, 59:1; Jer. 5:22, 23:23-24

What Is God Saying?

Jonah made a choice. God laid on him a responsibility that was not to his liking, Go to Nineveh. But Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh. He didn't like Nineveh. He had other plans for that cruel and wicked city. It was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Assyrians were the arch-enemies of the Hebrews. They were bent on destroying Jonah's nation. Mercy to them ran against the grain. Nineveh didn't deserve to be forgiven. They deserved to be destroyed. Jonah's concept of what was right and God's desire to give Nineveh a chance to repent were out of sync. The only solution to his problem, argued Jonah, was to head in a direction that was opposite from Nineveh.

He began his journey ‘away from the presence of the Lord’ by going to the seacoast town of Joppa. He found a ship headed for Tarshish (a city in Spain or Carthage). No need to look further. He paid the fare. No cost was too painful. As we all know, he had a rough voyage. The winds blew, the waves tossed the little ship, and the sailors panicked. Jonah confessed he was running away from his God. The crew then tossed him overboard to appease God. A great fish whose heading was toward Nineveh, not Tarshish, swallowed him and Jonah learned a painful lesson, you can't get away with running away from God.

How Does This Apply To Us?

We may not book passages on a trip to the far end of the Mediterranean, but we will always pay the price for running away from God. Saying no to God is saying yes to trouble. All of us, at some time, are tempted to pay the fare for a trip that will take us away from a painful responsibility, from a crossroads of decision, from a burden that we think is too great for our shoulders, from a job that we just don't want to do. Jonah's experience should teach us that the only escape to joy and living, to health and wholeness is the escape to God, not away from God. Jesus paid the fare for our welcome into the Father's Presence, but we pay the fare for any trip away from the Father.

Pray With Me

Lord, to go away from your presence, everyone must pay the fare. Jonah learned that the fare was more than he bargained for. Lord, when through fear or discouragement, I am inclined to pay the fare and get away from my responsibility, give me a clear vision to see that payment of the fare is the first of many links in a chain of captivity. When, through the weakness of the flesh and the clamourings of unsanctified emotions, I pay the fare on a ship that promises escape, let me see that the first payment is small compared to the instalments that must follow.

O God, let me never forget that the Lord who is my Redeemer once paid the fare in full for my journey to eternal life. Instead of rebellion and pride, let there rise within me gratitude, faith, and obedience.

In His strong name. Amen.

Moving On In The Life of Prayer

Prayer is a time to escape. It is escaping from the world with its impatient and often trivial demands and from the things that feed or damage our pride. It is escaping from the vice of schedules and appointments, quotas and competition. It is escaping to God who has time to listen, whose line is always open, ‘Whose hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear dull that it cannot hear.’