Running From God

Jonah 1 Jonah Flees From the LORD
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 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. 6 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, and we will not perish."
7 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.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 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.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

My opening example was asking my wife were the purple dry erase marker was. She responded that it was thru a certain door because she recalled seeing the kids playing with it. I then turned and went the other way. Well, in this story this is exactly what Jonah did.

At the time Nineveh had about 120,000 residents and was the largest city in the world. It was known for it's violence, evil plottings against the Lord, cruelty and plundering during war, prostitution and witchcraft.

In verse 2 God calls Jonah to go the preach to or against Nineveh. Verse 3 starts with a big BUT and Jonah ran the other way. Tarshish was a city in the opposite direction all the way across the Mediterranean Sea. Jonah bought his ticket and was out of there.

The study notes say that Jonah might of had some apprehension for his safety at first, but the ultimate reason was that Jonah didn't think that God's grace was for other people than the Israelites. He was selfish with his God.

How do we run from God?
Do we sometimes think God's salvation isn't for certain groups of people like murderers and such?

Vs 4 God sends a great wind. While this is going on all of the sailors were frantic and Jonah went ahead down below deck and fell into a deep sleep. We talked about how when we are outside of God's will we may be miserable and depression may set in. Maybe this was the case. Either way, by being outside the will of God Jonah put his life in jeopardy as well as the lives of the sailors. Think how this applies for us. When we are outside the will of God are we exposing our family and friends to potential peril or "bad things?"

Vs 7 God exposes the guilty party, Jonah. It was done thru a gambling type deal where possibly sticks were drawn and the short stick, or lot, fell upon Jonah. Jonah had already shared with the sailors that he was running from God and now they made the connection. They started quizzing him.

The sailors knew something needed to happen for them to have their lives spared. Jonah, instead of saying, "Take me back to land so I can go to Nineveh" recommends an assisted suicide. He knew if they threw him over the seas would get calm. At first they didn't want to. They tried to row ashore with no luck. Ironically these pagan sailors called out to Jonah's God for mercy for what they were about to do....throw him over.

God provides another out here and has the fish, or possibly a whale, most likely a sperm whale, swallow Jonah for 3 days. I'm sure Jonah had plenty of time to think about the big mess he made by running the other way. Imagine the smell and filth. It's hard even getting fish smell off your hands let alone the smell you'd acquire from sitting in the stomach.

Jonah ends up going to Nineveh and the people repent. Next week's lesson is from Jonah 4.

Hosea 149b "The ways of the Lord are right, the righteous walk in them, the rebellious stumble in them."