Monday, July 22, 2013 - Lessons From A Man On The Run Jonah 1:1-17 1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4 The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. 6 So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.” 7 Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” 13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. 14 Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.” 15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. We are told that the prophet Jonah bought a ticket to Tarshish in an effort to escape from the presence of the Lord and thereby avoid a God-given assignment. Probably none of us would book a flight to a distant land in order to escape from God’s presence. Nonetheless, good people actually try to run from God in many different ways and end up experiencing miseries similar to Jonah’s. While running from the Lord, the prophet overlooked some essentials that we should all keep in mind. In the first place, he incorrectly assumed that fleeing from God would release him from having to obey. He probably never imagined how persistent the Lord can be when He calls us to a duty station. Eventually Jonah found it is impossible to run from God successfully—His love will pursue us, even to the depths of the sea in order to conform us to His will and His plan for our lives. God simply will not be deterred by our slippery disobedience. Jonah had also overlooked the fact that the direction of disobedience is always downward. Scripture tells us that the reluctant prophet initially went down to Joppa. There he found a ship and proceeded down into it. And the next thing you know, he is plunging down into the depths of the sea—even down to the roots of the mountains (Jonah 2:6). When you run from God, there is no hiding place, even in the bottom of the sea. Our entire life is always visible to the Lord. So instead of trying to flee from His presence, welcome it. Copyright 2013 In Touch Ministries, Inc.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 18:34:03 +0000
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