Jonah's Flight Lessons Series

Many of you have no doubt heard several times of the

boy who drew a picture in Sunday School of an airplane

with four people in it. The Sunday School teacher asked him

what part of the Bible he was illustrating, and he said it was

a picture of the flight of Mary and Joseph with Jesus into

Egypt. When she noted that there were four and not just

three in the plane, she inquired who the fourth one was. He

responded, "That was Pilate." We are using that same pun

in reference to Jonah's flight to Tarshish. Mary and Joseph

fled to escape the enemy of God's plan, but Jonah fled to

escape God's plan itself. There are two important lessons we

can learn from this flight. The first lesson is on-

I. THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

The lesson on providence in this verse is unique in

relationship to all that the rest of the book teaches. All

through the book we see how God works by means of nature

in storms, growth of plants, in living creatures, like the great

fish, and by means of a worm to accomplish His goal. In this

verse, however, the emphasis is not on what God did, but on

what He did not do. Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish in direct

opposition to God's command, and God does not interfere

immediately to stop him. He lets Jonah carry out his own

plan.

Notice that Jonah knew where he wanted to go. He

wanted to go to Tarshish, and with that in mind, he goes

down to Joppa, and there he finds conveniently and

coincidentally, a ship going, of all places, to Tarshish. What

luck! That is just where he wanted to go. Things couldn't

have worked out better for Jonah in his effort to successfully

disobey God.

The lesson that many point out here is that we learn by

this experience that good timing, and all things working out

to aid you in your plan, is no necessary proof that it is God's

will. Even the most evil of schemes can work like a charm,

and have all the breaks in its favor. Therefore, we must

beware of judging God's will only by the smooth operation

of our plans. Sometimes Christians just assume if the door

is open and the way is clear to act, that that means it must be

God's will. This is not necessarily the case at all.

Charles Spurgeon was a zealous Calvinist, who preached

a high concept of the providence of God, but also pointed out

how providence can be distorted and used to justify

anything. He said, "If you sit down and try to find in the

ways of God to you and excuse for the wrong which you

mean to commit, the crafty devil and your deceitful heart

together will soon conjure up a plea for providence." In

other words, sometimes evil plans work out great, and God

does not stop them. Jonah could say, "Well, I must not be so

bad to flea after all. Things are working out just fine. It is

almost as if it was providential.

The racketeer who sees a perfect setup by which to gain a

great deal of money illegally could as well plead providence.

So also with the thief who finds the back door unlocked, or

the keys left in the car. It makes his theft so much easier

and with less risk. But who would be so foolish as to

consider it providential? The value of seeing the way things

worked out well for Jonah in disobedience is that it wakes us

up to do some serious thinking about God's will. We are

hereby warned against trusting too much to circumstances,

and we are trust back to depend upon the Word of God.

David had an experience which is a perfect illustration.

You recall that when Saul was chasing him, David found

him lying down asleep. Saul was out to kill David, and now

David had the perfect setup to take Saul's life. Abishai even

encourages him to see the hand of providence in this

situation, and he said, "The Lord has delivered him into

your hands. Let me pin him to the ground."

(I Sam. 26:8). In spite of the favorable circumstance and

advice, David chose to let him live because the Word of God

said it was not right to lay your hands on God's anointed.

He made his decision based on God's Word, and not on

other factors that were strongly in favor of acting contrary

to that Word.

You might be in a situation where you have an urgent

need for five dollars, and suddenly you find yourself in a

situation where the clerk has forgotten to take the money of