Have you ever been handed a big project? It might have been in school or at work. There are several emotions that run through our head. For some people, they jump at the chance to prove themselves AND grow during the process. They want to show off what they are capable of. For others, doubt and anxiety set in and we end up barely making it through…by the skin of our teeth. Others run as far as they can!

Big Missions can be downright terrifying. Jonah, a proven prophet of God's people, was handed a seemingly insurmountable project. And bolted. Fast.

The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are."

3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

4 But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. 5 Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship.

But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. 6 So the captain went down after him. "How can you sleep at a time like this?" he shouted. "Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives."

7 Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit.8 "Why has this awful storm come down on us?" they demanded. "Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?"

9 Jonah answered, "I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

10 The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. "Oh, why did you do it?" they groaned. 11 And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, "What should we do to you to stop this storm?"

12 "Throw me into the sea," Jonah said, "and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault."

13 Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn't make it. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah's God. "O Lord," they pleaded, "don't make us die for this man's sin. And don't hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons."

15 Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! 16 The sailors were awestruck by the Lord's great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.

17 Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. Jonah 1

Jonah's flight from this mission was so deep he felt he needed to not just avoid the mission, but to get so far away from God he was no longer under his boundary. Jonah, a book full of imagery, attempts to literally cross from one side of the world to the other.

But it didn't work.

The Presence of God is locked into the Purpose of God

God was doing something. Something really big. Even in Jonah's attempts to get away from his purpose he finds himself serving as the prophet of God. His body language speaks of absolute fear, but it leads those around him to absolute purpose.