Sleeping With Unfinished Business

Sleeping With Unfinished Business

Abandoning a journey to go on a Trip

JONAH 1:1-6

1) Now the word of the lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2) Arise go to Nineveh, that great city and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

3) But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa;and he found a ship going to tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

4) But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

5) Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.

But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

6) So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, what meanest thou, o sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

Jonah was the son of Amattai of Gathheper and from the tribe of Zebulun in lower Galilee.

Jonah’s only assignment in this text was peculiar in nature in that he had to go prophesy against Nineveh; Nineveh in many respects would be considered a Las Vegas of its time. As Las Vegas, it was considered a great city with a population of about 600,000. A city thriving and full of resources, all the resources that a man could ask for.

This city was considered the capital of the empire and one of the most ancient cities of the world. However, there wickedness had come before God. Their evil had ascended from earth to heaven and stood before the supreme judge(God) to bear witness against its own guilt.

COULD IT HAVE BEEN THAT JONAH THOUGHT THAT IF HE COULD ESCAPE THE PRESENCE OF GOD, GOD WOULD CHOOSE ANOTHER PROPHET TO CARRY OUT THIS ASSIGNMENT? SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT THOUGH THE TEXT DOES NOT SUGGEST ANYTHING TO SUPPORT THIS OPINION.

THREE PROBLEMS

1) JONAH FLEES FROM HIS ASSIGNMENT

2) FLEES FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD (SO HE THOUGHT)

3) NOT WORRIED (ASLEEP WHILE EVERYONE WAS WORRIED)

1) JONAH FLEES FROM HIS ASSIGNMENT

In verses 1-2 Jonah is comissioned to an assignment and chooses to pay his fare and abort his God-given assignment and does as many of us do and that is flee from the very thing that is able to bless us. Jonah goes down to Joppa to flee to Tarshish to get on a ship to escape:

1) God’s Will

2) God’s Time

3) God’s Way

God’s Will

God will show you your trip but he will never reveal to you your journey. God knows for many of us we cannot handle the pain, pressure or trials attached to a journey.

God’s Time

When the timing of God is part of the plan which is in all cases nothing happens without the timimg of God being present.

God’s Way

GOD’S WAY DOES NOT COME WITH DIRECTIONS TO OUR JOURNEY; OUR JOURNEY IS DIFFERNT FROM A TRIP,WITH A TRIP THERE’S CLARITY, DEFINITE INSTRUCTIONS AND A ROADMAP THAT GIVES YOU DIRECTIONS TO YOUR DESTINATION. A JOURNEY ON THE OTHER HAND ALWAYS LOOKS WORSE THAN IT REALLY IS BECAUSE THERE IS NO CLEAR DEFINITION NOR ANY DIRECTIONS, BUT INTERESTING ENOUGH YOU YET GET TO YOUR DESTINATION IN WAY GOD INTENDS YOU TO.

WE ASSUME THAT OUR DESTINATION IS A STRAIGHT LINE; HOWEVER, IT IS FULL OF UPS AND DOWNS STEPS FORWARD AND STEPS BACKWARDS BUT THIS DOES IN ESSENCE CLEARLY GIVE DEFINITION TO DESTINATION. FURTHERMORE, IT GETS US TO A POINT OF ARRIVAL QUICKER THAN WE ARE SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE.

JONAH, IN THIS CASE HAS INTENT TO DO ONE THING BUT GOD CAUSES HIS PLANS TO BE SHIFTED AND HE ENDS UP IN THE CAPACITY OF HELPING PEOPLE HELP THEMSELVES.

2) Flees from the presence of the Lord

Many theologians have said that God is everywhere bumping into himself as he comes and goes. Therefore, it would be very difficult to escape from his presence; God is just as much in Tarshish as he is in Nineveh. So if your commission is to go north and you go south. That place in which you were commissioned had to have been the place that had been ready for you in the beginning and the place that you had gone had to have been prepared.

God will never send you with out making preparation for his will to be done.

Do understand Ready Is similar to Prepared with slightly different characteristics.