Running away from God!

“When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.” Jonah 2:7

Jonah is a great story filled with many truths of God. This Hebrew prophet was given a mission by God to go to Nineveh and tell the King and His people they must turn away from their wickedness or perish. Jonah refused to obey God. He did not want to dirty His hands with the wickedness of the people of Nineveh. So Jonah ran away from God.

The Spirit of God will not strive with the spirit of man. If you choose to live without God or disobey Him, He will allow calamities to fall upon your life to get your attention.

Jonah wanted to live on a holy hill with God. He did not understand that God will take you to the gutters of the world to do His work. Jesus did not come for the righteous but to bring sinners to repentance.

Jonah also made the mistake of placing his self righteousness above the people of Nineveh. He was judging right and wrong and acting in the role of God.

Jonah did not understand you are saved by the grace of God and all people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It is the loving kindness and mercy of God at work to determine who He will bless or bring judgment upon.

Jonah was incapable of determining justice for the people of Nineveh. As Jesus taught, you have to take the speck of dirt out of your own eyes before you can see clearly or execute His judgments over others.

When you see yourself for who you really are with all your weaknesses and inner depravity, it becomes easy to extend the mercy of God to all people regardless of the depth of their sins and rebellion against God.

In the midst of Jonah’s misery, He remembered the Lord and repented and was cast out of the belly of the whale.

The question is whether you are following the voice of God or running away from Him? Nothing good will happen to you if you try to go it on your own!