MESSAGES
It seems as if every night as I watch the evening news, there is another police chase taking place. Someone is trying to outrun the law. Why? Because he’s broken the law and doesn’t want to get caught. A chase always involves (to use the words of Jackie Gleason) a pursuer (the police) and a pursuee (the bad guy). The bad guy hopes he can run fast enough and long enough that the police will give up chasing him.
In the book of Jonah, we read about a pursuer who never gave up pursuing the pursuee. The pursuer is God, who represents the law and desires obedience to it. The pursuee is Jonah, who is running from the law.
God had given Jonah a specific order to arise and go to Ninevah and to cry out against the city because of its wickedness. There was no way Jonah could misinterpret the orders. Yet, he chose not to obey God. When God said go east, Jonah went west. Jonah had no desire to obey God, and instead, he chose to be disobedient. He showed his disobedience by running from God, and his running from God led to a series of needless consequences.
Has God given you some orders that you are running from? We can run from God, but we can’t hide! The consequences that Jonah dealt with are the very same consequences we deal with when we run from God. Let me share with you a few of his consequences, and let us learn from them.
Running from God can cause a downward spiral (1:3). Jonah went down to Joppa, down to the ship, down into the lowest part of the ship, down into the fish’s belly, down into the heart of the earth, down into the pit, down into hell itself. The path of disobedience is always down. There is never a standing still for God. You’re either moving forward or you’re moving backward. You’re either rising up or you’re going down.
Whenever you're running from God, you can bet that Satan will have a ship all ready for you, but the fare will be very expensive. It can cost you your life, both physically and spiritually.
Running from God can bring on a storm (1:4). Jonah had sown the wind, and was now, literally, reaping the whirlwind. There is no outrunning a storm when it’s sent by God.
The Bible says, "For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and disciplines every son whom He receives" (Hebrews 12:6). This storm was not God's way of punishing Jonah. Rather, it was His way of showing patience toward Jonah, hoping to get his attention so that he would quit his running. God's storms are not meant to destroy us, but to develop us. God will sometimes send a severe storm to His children in order to bring them back to port safely.
Running from God can affect the lives of others (1:5–6). Oftentimes we hear people say, “If I want to do drugs, it's nobody’s business but mine,” or, “If I want to have sex with my boyfriend or girlfriend, what's that to you,” or, “My sin is my business, and it doesn't affect you.” Excuse me, but those statements couldn’t be further from the truth.
Jonah's disobedience almost brought disaster upon these mariners. His sin was definitely affecting those around him, just as our sins affect those around us.
The drug addict has to support his habit with money, so he knocks down an old lady and steals her purse. Or he waits for someone to show up at an ATM machine, and then shoots and kills the person for his money. All so he can support his habit.
The victim’s family is now grieving over the loss of a husband, father, son, brother, friend; and they will never be able to enjoy his presence with them again. The courts then spend thousands of dollars to try this person and find him guilty. The taxpayers then spend thousands of dollars a year to keep this guy in prison so he doesn't do it again.
Look at the horrible results of the AIDS epidemic: babies born with the HIV virus; innocent people being given tainted blood. Yet people are still trying to convince us that their sin doesn't affect anyone else. Innocent people can get tossed around, if not drowned, in our storms.
As Christians, our rebellion against God, no matter what it is, will affect our relationship with our husbands or wives, our children, our families, our friends, and our fellow workers. Most of all, it will affect our relationship with our God. The most miserable person in the world is the person who tries to run from God.
Running from God can make us numb and deaf to the things around us (1:5). We read that Jonah had lain down and was fast asleep. He was so wrapped up in his sin that he didn't even know what was happening around him. Sin can become a spiritual anesthetic that clouds our reasoning and paralyzes our lives.
Have you ever been so weighed down by sin that you want to do nothing but pull the blankets over your head and fall asleep, hoping everything will just go away? It won’t go away until you get right with God.
Running from God is a sign of a poor witness (1:9–10). Notice who it was that went and woke up Jonah. It was the nonbeliever. This man says to Jonah, “Who are you? Why are you here? Why is this evil upon us?” Jonah then tells the mariners who he is and who his God is. He says, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land."
These non-believers knew that he had fled from the presence of the Lord, and they asked, “Why have you done this?” Jonah’s sin had found him out (Numbers 32:23).
Even though Jonah told them that he was a follower of the living God, his conduct did not back up his confession. His walk did not support his talk. The tongue of his mouth and the tongue of his shoe were not going in the same direction. We should walk in such a way that people will know that we are Christians without them having to ask us.
Running from God can cause others to sin or cause others to want nothing to do with us (1:15). These men became fearful and were uncertain as to what to do. To prevent the ship from sinking, they at first tried to lighten the load by throwing over the cargo, but to no avail. These mariners had more compassion than Jonah did. These ungodly men wanted to save Jonah. Yet, this godly man, Jonah, wanted his enemies, the Ninevites, dead.
Eventually the men realized that the only way to save themselves was to throw Jonah overboard and into the sea. They would have to commit murder in order to save their own lives.
Let me ask you. Do your friends want to be with you when you show up on the scene? Do they try to get away from you? Are they willing to sin just to get away from you? Do they try to throw you overboard when you come around?
Running from God can dampen our spirit (1:15). They picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea. We can say it literally dampened Jonahs spirits. Though Jonah was cast into the sea, we read that the hand of God immediately gripped him. God took Jonah from sleeping at the Ship’s Inn to crying at the Fish Inn.
Running from God can cause unusual things to happen (1:17). First, God sent a storm, and now He sends a great fish for Jonah. The lesson we can learn from this is that the Christian will never be able to run beyond the care of God.
God will do—and use—what He has to in order to fulfill the plans He has for your life. With Balaam, God used a donkey. With Isaiah, God used ravens to feed him. And here in Jonah's case, God prepared a great fish to help get his attention. Jonah thought he would go for a boat ride, and instead, God gave him a whale of a ride. If only God’s people were as obedient as the rest of His creation, what a wonderful world this would be.
The things that really amazes me is the fact that Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights before he even began to cry out to the Lord. Jonah knew his God. He heard his God. He knew what his God wanted him to do, but he refused. Instead, he chose to disobey. Talk about a hard and disobedient heart.
It’s been said, “The best inoculation to the gospel is the gospel, heard but not heeded.” In other words, if God has been speaking to you lately and you have willfully chosen to close your ears and disobey His command, your heart will become hardened, and unusual things might begin to happen.
Running from God can cause our life to stink (2:10). Jonah had been in the belly of this fish for three days and nights. He had to have been a mess. His skin was bleached from all the gastric juices of the whale. He was entangled in seaweed, and covered with the contents of the whale’s stomach. In the same way, when we allow ourselves to be covered with the things of this world, it only makes us smell.
We then read that after three days, the whale all of a sudden got “the urge to regurge,” and he vomited Jonah out of his mouth. Jesus said to the church at Laodecia, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. . . . So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth" (Revelations 3:15–16). When we allow ourselves to be covered with the things of this world, it not only makes us smell, but it makes God sick!
Running from God can give us a very selfish attitude (4:1–2). We get a glimpse of Jonah’s attitude when we read that after the city of Ninevah repented, and God held back His judgment, "it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry."
Jonah was ticked off because his enemy was saved from the wrath of God! He didn't want them to be blessed; he wanted them to be blasted. He didn't want them to receive salvation; he wanted them to receive annihilation. He wanted them to receive God’s fury, not His forgiveness.
Jonah had good reason to hate the Assyrians because of their horrendous cruelty toward their enemies. They were the most sadistic people in world history. Jonah didn't want to see his enemy receive their deepest need—the love and forgiveness of God. That’s why he fled; that’s why he chose to be disobedient; that’s why he was running from God. He knew that God was merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness. He didn’t want his enemy to receive the forgiveness of God.
Jon Courson, pastor of Applegate Christian Fellowship, has said, ”Forgiveness is the deepest need of man and the highest achievement of God.” The Bible says, "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Romans 5:20). Things didn’t go Jonah’s way and so he became angry. What about us?
Running from God can cause pouting sessions (4:3). Jonah began to pout when he saw Ninevah repent, and prayed that God would take his life. God then replied, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Jonah wouldn’t even respond to God’s question.
Later we see Jonah pout once again over the loss of a plant, and once again Jonah prays that God would take his life. God then says, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" (4:8). This time, Jonah responds by snapping back at God and saying, "It is right for me to be angry, even to death!" (4:9).
We see over 600,000 people (including 120,000 children) saved in Ninevah, and Jonah is pouting and angry! Nonetheless, God goes ahead and blesses him by providing a shade tree as shelter from the hot sun. Jonah was happy because of the shade.
The next morning, God causes the plant to wither and die, and the hot sun beat down upon Jonah's head. Now Jonah's angry! The Lord then said to Jonah, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow . . . and should I not pity Ninevah? . . ." (4:10–11). Jonah was happy about the shade God provided him, but he pouted over the salvation of an entire city.
Though the story ends kind of abruptly, and the curtain drops suddenly, there is a very important question presented. The question is this—Where is your heart?
If your life were to end suddenly, where will you be at that time? Would you be in God’s will, or out of God’s will? If the Lord were to call you home right now, would He be calling you at a time of disobedience, running from Him? Or, would He be calling you home right in the middle of serving Him?
When you come to Christ, you're to remain committed. When He says, “Arise and go,” then you are to arise and go. If you’ve been running from God, let me give you some good news. In chapter three we read, “And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time" (v. 1). God is a God of second chances.
The story goes about a child who was riding his tricycle one day around the block, over and over again. A policeman finally stopped him and asked, “Why do you keep going around the block?” The child replied, “I'm running away from home.” The policeman asked, “Then why do you only go around the block?” The child responded, “Because my mom said that I'm no allowed to cross the street.” The point is this: Obedience will keep you close to those you love.
If you've been running from God, remember this: His mercy and grace are inexhaustible. He's there for you. He’ll come after you. He won’t give up on you, but you must return to Him. As you do, you’ll experience God’s love, just as the prodigal son did (see Luke 15). Instead of getting his hand slapped, he had a ring put on his finger. Instead of getting a beating, he got a banquet. Instead of getting kicked, he got kissed.
Let us all remember the words of God spoken to Jonah, "Arise, go, . . . and preach" (3:2). The only prerequisite for being used again by God is to get up and get going. God wants us to go to our families, neighbors, and coworkers and share His love with them. If you haven’t been doing this lately, then seek His forgiveness and allow Him to give you a second chance. Let’s stop running from God, and let’s start running for Him.
God bless you,
Pastor Steve |
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