Historical Posts

Jonah 01:01-17 Are You Running From God?

Text: Jonah 1:1-17 – Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-14

In life, a number of us may have the tendency to run away from following God’s commandments and precepts. In (Romans 13:1) God instructs us to be subject to the higher powers (Rulers, government, etc.). In (Matthew 5:44), Jesus teaches us to love, bless and pray for our enemies. In (Ephesians 5:22-25), God says husbands are to love their wives and wives are to submit themselves to their own husbands. In (Matthew 28:19-20), Christians are charged with teaching the gospel of Christ to the world.
For some reason, we have conceived in our hearts that we can get away with, running away from God and not performing our duty to God without God punishing us for it. In (Genesis 3:1-21), we find Adam and Eve trying to hide themselves (In the trees of the garden) from the presence of the Lord.

In Jonah 1:1-2, God commands Jonah the prophet to cry against, or preach repentance, to the city of Nineveh because of their sin. The question, we must ask ourselves is, what type of reasoning or thought process in Jonah’s mind lead him to flee from the presence of the Lord and disobey God?
Jonah, had an improper attitude toward God and His will. We know this to be true because when God delivered him from the fish’s belly (Jonah 2) and commanded him to preach to Nineveh, the response to Jonah’s preaching was the people repented with sackcloth so that God changed His mind about what He thought to punish them with (Jonah 3). Now the natural response to this should be joy – Luke 15:10. But Jonah’s response was the opposite, he was displeased and angry – Jonah 3:10; Jonah 4:1-3.
This is why it’s important to learn how to make our will conform to God’s will. This means we must submit ourselves totally to God. Peter, and the disciples of Jesus learned this lesson in Matthew 16:21-24. Our attitude needs to be like Jesus attitude when he prayed in the garden, “… nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39).

When Jonah, disobeyed God, God did not write him off, He was patient and merciful to him. And caused events to happen in his life to help him understand it’s best to obey God – Psalm 103:8.
Even after Jonah preached to Nineveh and after they repented, after God changed His mind about the punishment he thought to do to them. And after Jonah was angry with God for saving them, God extended his patience and mercy to him in trying to get him to understand he should not be angry, using the illustration of the gourd – Jonah 4:4-11.
When we disobey God, or run away from Him, He has a way of turning us around to see the need for us to do what He has said. Let us be encouraged and stop running from God as Jonah did because, God has provided us His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. God raised Him up to life conquering sin in the flesh. Why not come to Him today in obedience?