No doubt we are all familiar with Jonah and his encounter with the “great fish.” We have heard it from our childhood. Jesus referred to it (“legitimizing” the account) in speaking of His coming death, burial, and resurrection. Some would call Jonah a Zionist. We would call him a patriot. He loved Israel! He loved his land so much that he wanted to see her enemies destroyed. So, when God told Jonah to go and preach a message of repentance to Nineveh, the prophet rebelled and tried to get as far away from Nineveh as he could. Jonah 4:2 tells us why Jonah disobeyed God. “And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” Jonah knew the character and nature of God - that He would show mercy to those who would repent and turn from their sin. The first two chapters of this book are the account of a disobedient child of God. The last two chapters show us what happens when we act in obedience to our Heavenly Father. I Corinthians 10 tells us that the things recorded in the Old Testament are for our education and edification. There are many lessons to be learned to be learned in these first two chapters of Jonah. In them we find at least four principles concerning disobedience and the dangers of it.

I. YOU CAN ONLY GO TO OR AWAY FROM GOD.

II. WHEN YOU ARE RUNNING FROM GOD, SATAN WILL BE SURE TO PROVIDE THE TRANSPORTATION.

III. WHEN WE DISOBEY GOD, WE BECOME INEFFECTIVE IN OUR WITNESS.

IV. THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY FOR DISOBEDIENCE.