“Running from God”
Jonah1:1-3
I read a story this week of a 5 year old boy who decided to run away from home. The woman who lived next door saw him leave as she was cutting her grass. She watched him as she walked up and down the sidewalk in front of her house dragging his little suitcase behind him. He would then disappear around the corner and a few minutes later he would reappear and go past her again. After he had gone past her house several times she finally asked him, what are you doing? He said I’m running away from home. She says well why do you keep circling the block? He says because my Mom and dad won’t let me cross the street by myself.
Let me ask you….have you ever wanted to run away from home? Just leave everything, go someplace where no one can find you. At one time or another I would say that every one of us have felt like that. There was a problem or a situation or a person that we just wanted to get away from and the only solution seemed to be to run.
Psychologists use a term to describe this called the flight or fight syndrome. It is said that when we are placed in a very difficult situation it is usually our tendency to do one of two things, fight the problem or try to solve it or run away. Jonah chose to run away. In fact there is a long history in the Bible of men and women running away from God. In Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned, the bible says that they ran away and id from his presence. We looked at Moses and after he killed a man he ran away. David ran away from King Saul and hid in a cave. And when Jesus was arrested in the garden the disciples ran away.
And now we come to Jonah. When we studied the book of Jonah in seminary our OT professor told us there were 3 ways this book can be interpreted. He concluded by saying that he believed it was a literal story—it happened just as the scripture says. He quoted Billy Graham who said if the bible says that Jonah swallowed the whale I would still believe it. I agree.
I heard a story once about a little girl in elementary school who was in class one day studying about the ocean when the teacher told the class I don’t want any of you to ever be afraid of going into the ocean because there are no sea creatures that can swallow you whole. This little girl raised her hand and said I learned in church that a great fish swallowed Jonah whole. The teacher just wrote it off and said that’s impossible. That could never happen. And the little girl said when I get to heaven I’ll ask Jonah myself and find out if it was true. The teacher replied well what if Jonah didn’t go to heaven? The girl said then maybe you can ask him.
The facts are that only 3 verses in Jonah deal with the big fish. The other 45 verses tell the story of Jonah. I told you that there are 3 ways this story can be looked at. (1) it can be symbolic. The characters, the events you read have a deeper meaning. They are telling a story but the events did not actually happen. (2) It can be seen as a parable. Some believe it is a parable describing the deliverance of Israel. (3) It is historically accurate and based on real events. This is what I believe and always have. The primary reason I believe that the story happened exactly this way is that Jesus accepted it this way.
When the scribes and the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to prove that what He said was true. …this is what He said …an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and now sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish so will the Son of Man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. The other thing I want to point out before we dive into chapter one is that neither the NT or the OT ever call the fish a whale. It is simply called a great fish.
Jonah 1:1-3.
1. God still invites us to join Him in His work. The call comes to Jonah to go in this direction to preach to the people in Ninevah but instead Jonah runs away and goes in the opposite direction. We don’t know how God spoke. He spoke audibly to Adam and to Abraham. He spoke in a vision to Ezekiel. He spoke in a dream to Joseph. We don’t know how, we just know that He did speak. He has many ways of speaking to us; through a sermon, through His word, through a song. God still speaks to His people.
2. When He speaks we may not like what He says. There are times when God gives us an assignment that is difficult. It is hard. When God gives us an assignment it is always something we cannot do without Him.
V. 2. Ninevah was a rising, powerful city in the day of Jonah. And it was home to Jonah’s enemies so it was the last place Jonah thought God would ever send him to preach. You see Ninevah was just not a very nice place. They did a lot of evil things. The bible tells us in chapter 4 that Jonah was very angry that God was sending him there. Let me ask you have you ever been given a job to do that you really didn’t want to do? I’m sure you have. I have. God told Jonah to go down to Ninevah and preach but Jonah didn’t like these people. They were mean and Jonah didn’t think they deserved salvation. So he decided to run and that’s when his trouble started. Jonah is not in this boat by himself. Has something ever happened to someone you didn’t like very much; perhaps they hurt you and then you heard about their misfortune and instead of feeling sorry for them you threw a party. Ever felt that way? If you have please don’t raise your hand.
If God has ever asked you to go to someone and ask forgiveness…to go and apologize …to go to share Christ with someone but you refused…then you’re just like Jonah. Jonah was looking for the easy way out. When God speaks we may not like what he says.
3. Running from God means one simple thing. You are going in the wrong direction. V. 3. Ninevah is to the east. Tarshish is to the west. God has given us this wonderful thing called free will. We are not puppets. We can do as we please and if we choose to run away from God we can. But it doesn’t mean He won’t come after us. He does this because He knows that the only place we will find peace is in the middle of God’s will.
And asI said a few weeks ago it is pointless to play hide and go seek with God because you will always lose. The Psalmist David says in Psalm 137: 7-10. Listen. You might be able to run from God but you cannot hide from God.
4. When we run from God, Satan is always happy to provide transportation v. 3b. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. It was a calculated decision. He found a ship and bought a ticket. Jonah made his plans and he followed them. There are times when we fall into temptation, we didn’t mean to, we didn’t plan to but there are also times when we plan it out completely and we literally run to it. And that is what Jonah did.
Anytime we want to run away from God we’re going to be able to find a boat. And Satan will always make sure that the boat will sail on time. If you want to run from God Satan will always make it possible.
5. Running away from God will never solve anything. V.3 c So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Any path that leads away from God is downhill. And it just keeps going in that same direction. Notice. He went down to Joppa. He went down into the ship and he went down to sleep. Running from God will only take you in one direction. Down.
I got to thinking this week….Jonah knew God. He was a prophet…a preacher. So why did he run. Why would anyone who knows Christ much less a preacher run from Him? I thought of several reasons. (1) There is something we want to hang on to. We are not ready to repent. Something we know God wants us to give up but we refuse so we run. We’re not ready. (2) We are afraid that we cannot accomplish the thing He is calling us to do. It’s too big, it’s too hard; it’s too difficult. We’re not confident enough. So we run. (3) or we run because like Adam and Eve, we have sinned and we no longer feel worthy to stand before a holy God.
Next time you think about running away run to Him. Have you ever realized that God is chasing you?
If there were 1000 steps between you and God today I want to assure you that God would take 999 of them. He leaves it to you. An old Chinese proverb says that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Will you take it today?
