Jonah, Jonah, Jonah. The God of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, one true eternal God gave Jonah very specific instructions to go to Nineveh. And Jonah ran away. Think about that for a minute. It’s quite audacious. As Christians, we often say that if we could just hear God tell us what to do, we’d obey. We think our obedience isn’t for lack of good intention but lack of clarification. Jonah didn’t have that excuse. God told him very clearly and specifically what to do, and Jonah ran far away.
Two thoughts come to mind: “How could he be so delusional to think he could run from God” and “Why?” Though it can be easy to judge Jonah for his actions. If we’re honest, we are just like him. We all try to run away from God. Maybe not literally into the bowels of a ship, but we run away emotionally and spiritually.
Running from God
Perhaps your running is more subtle, presenting itself in a rationalization like, “God didn’t really mean that He wanted me to follow His ways. I’m sure He wants me to be happy.” So you run to the things of the world. Or, “I’ll forgive the person who hurt me at some point, but right now I need to take care of myself.” So you let bitterness fester and seek to serve yourself.
Perhaps it’s more overt. Perhaps you ran fast and hard from God into destructive behavior, and those choices have now left you broken and remorseful. Take heart! Even when you ran from Him, He never left you! King David wrote in the Psalms the truth about God’s ever-presence in our lives, even when we try to run away. He states,
“Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence? If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the other side of the sea, even there your hand would guide me, your right hand would grab hold of me.” Psalm 139:7-10
There’s nowhere we can go that’s too far from God’s presence or love. He is always ready to draw us in close when we come to Him recognizing our sin and eager to experience His grace.
God’s Ways Over Our Ways
God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to “announce judgement against its people.” Jonah should have loved this task. He knew of the great evil of the people of Nineveh. This was his opportunity to announce God’s judgement upon them. So WHY did he run away? The answer comes later in Jonah 4:2.
“Oh, LORD, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment.”
Did you catch that? Jonah ran away from obeying God because he knew God would be merciful to the Ninevites if they repented from their evil ways, which they did. Jonah tried to usurp the merciful plans of Almighty God…because he thought he knew better. I believe that at the core of our running we run from God because we are selfish. We want to live OUR way, not God’s way.
The Choice
Jonah wanted God to destroy Nineveh, but God wanted to save Nineveh through Joh. God’s plans always prevail. Though God still used Jonah to save the Ninevites, Jonah missed out on experiencing the full joy of wholeheartedly surrendering to God.
The truth is that God will get His way with or without us, but He invites us into the holy work that He is continually doing. He does so in order that we can better understand His heart and character. Jonah was so focused on the judgement of the Ninevites that he completely missed the awe and wonder of God’s grace. Jonah was even irritated at the grace and compassion of God.
Many of us have heard the phrase “Hurt people, hurt people.” But I heard a sermon yesterday that “Forgiven people, forgive people” and “Loved people, love people.” It seems as if Jonah was so stuck in anger and hatred that he forgot that he, too, was just as guilty before the holy God and needed forgiveness just as much as the Ninevites. He traded selfless love for self-righteousness.
What about you? Self-righteousness disparages the unfathomable grace of God. But God gives grace to the humble. We have a choice. We can either run from the will of God, begrudgingly obey the will of God, or wholeheartedly trust and obey the perfect will of God. Our entire future will be determined by the choice we make.
