There is a fair amount of humor in Jonah’s decision to run away from God and the assignment he had been given. As if he could hide from God! The one who sees everything and orchestrates our lives. But that didn’t stop Jonah from trying: He was dead set against going to Nineveh, so he hopped a ship to Joppa and then to Tarshish to run from God.

So Jonah finds himself on a ship, and “the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.’”

“Then the sailors said to each other, ‘Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.’ They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, ‘Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’

He answered, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ This terrified them, and they asked, ‘What have you done?’ (They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so).”  

Have you ever run from God or something He wanted of you? I think the honest answer for all of us is yes. We may have resisted His truth before we said yes to him. Many of us have areas of our lives where the Holy Spirit has prompted us to act, but we are still resisting. Maybe you have had a conviction on something but have chosen up till now to resist acting on that conviction. You may be debating whether you want to bring an area of your life into alignment with what He asks of you. 

There are many ways to run from God, as well as many reasons. At the core, Jonah resisted because it was not convenient for him to do what God had asked of him. Nineveh was a dangerous place for him, especially if you were calling it to repentance for being wicked. He also didn’t think they deserved mercy. And his own reputation with the Israelites was potentially at risk. “Why would you do this?” he would be asked. He didn’t want to look like a fool.

As you read the book of Jonah you have to ask the question: Is the book more about the Ninevites or Jonah himself. The answer is both. God wanted the Ninevites to repent, but He also wanted Jonah to understand His heart, and He wanted Jonah to see life as He sees life. And that is true for us as well. When God calls us to do something, it is because it is best for us and His work in our world. And that is why God does not just let us go our own way and do our own thing, but he keeps trying to convince us to follow Him wholeheartedly. Not because He is a capricious God but because He is a good God who wants the best for us.

And so, God brings a storm. And Jonah immediately knows that He is the reason and that He cannot run from God. Because God loves us, He keeps after us because He is our Good Shepherd and wants the best for us. John 10:10 says, "I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full." But life to the full depends on our followership of the Good Shepherd. When we respond to His promptings, we participate in His work in this world and experience the life He wants us to live.  

Remember this: God will do what He needs to get our attention because He loves us enough to convince us to follow Him wholeheartedly. Jonah is a reminder that life is easier when we simply respond to his loving call. We cannot run from God. He cares too much to let us do that.

Father, I admit that there have been times when I ran from you by not following the promptings of the Holy Spirit in my heart. Forgive me. Thank you for chasing after me in your love and grace. Help me in those area