READ: JONAH 1-3; LUKE 15:1-7

Picture this: God asks me to go to a new school. You know, the one all the way across town. I’ve never visited. I have no friends there. A new kid, let alone a quiet kid like me, could be turned into creamed cauliflower before lunch. And, as if changing schools isn’t enough, God wants me to talk to the people I meet— and tell them about Jesus. I’m a goner.

Everything I’m feeling—the roiling in my gut, the clenching of my teeth—is nothing compared to how Jonah must have felt when God called him to the city of Nineveh. Nearly six hundred miles away from his hometown and overflowing with wickedness and debauchery, Nineveh was one of the nastiest places the Israelites knew about. It was filled with people who were running away from God. So, what did Jonah do? He ran away from God. He jumped aboard a ship headed to Tarshish, a city around twenty-five hundred miles away. He tried to hide from God. But God didn’t lose sight of him. And when Jonah ended up in the belly of a fish because of his foolish choices, God was with him there too.

In the same way, even when we chicken out, turn tail, and run at the sight of danger, God keeps relentlessly chasing after us. He never loses touch with us, even when we lose touch with Him. The truth is, we are all runaways from God—just like Nineveh and Jonah—but God loves us and reaches out to us anyway. He never gives up on us.

We see this in Luke 15, when Jesus tells a parable of a shepherd who searches for a lost sheep until he finds it. Jesus wanted us to know that when we run away from God, He continues to pursue us. In fact, that’s why Jesus went all the way to the cross for us—He is the good shepherd who was willing to lay down His life to save His sheep (John 10:11). Then He rose from the dead so that we could be with Him forever. So, wherever we are—even when we’re lost and afraid, even when we’re dying to just run away—we can lift our eyes to Jesus and cry out His name. He’ll forgive us, restore us, and enable us to share His love wherever He sends us.

Guess that means I need to get my grade transcripts ready. • Taylor Bennett

• We all run away from God every day—every time we choose sin instead of His good ways. When are you most tempted to run away from Him and what He calls you to do?

• Why is it important for us to remember that Jesus is faithful even when we aren’t?

“I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!” Jonah 2:6 (NLT)