"Lessons from Jonah: You Can't Escape God"

Scripture: Jonah 1 (Selected verses - 1:1-6;8-10;13-17

We’re probably all fairly familiar with Jonah’s story – God calls him into ministry, but he didn’t like the assignment so he tries to run away. The Lord pursues him, catches him up in the belly of a large fish, leads him to Nineveh where the mission was fulfilled, and where this servant of God continues to complain that he still doesn’t like the outcome.

There may be a lot of Jonah in each of us, and while we may remember his story, there are probably several lessons that we have overlooked in this reluctant servant. Many of us are called to some ministry or mission, while we would much prefer that the Lord would let us work in a totally different field or endeavor. Unfortunately for us, Divine Will always takes precedent over the human version.

The book of Jonah is quite different from the other prophetic narratives, in that it is historic in nature, and offers very little of the actual prophecy that he would be called to share with the people of Nineveh. This is the story of a man called by God to accomplish a specific and very trying Divine mission, and he wouldn’t be very amenable to this commission!
For the next 4 weeks, we will consider the predicament that Jonah found himself in, the ways in which he responded to the Lord’s call, what God did about his reluctance, and what each of us needs to learn from Jonah, this hesitant prophet.

Read Jonah 1:1-6

The people of Nineveh were cruel and violent– this was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, which brutally attacked, overthrew, and enslaved many other nations. This powerful people were constantly attacking Israel, and they were seen as the worst enemy that would ever come up against them. And in the early 700’s BC, they would be the means of conquest and enslavement of the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom. And while we may empathize with Jonah for not wanting to go to these people, we also need to see the Lord’s viewpoint in the matter.
After all, who would need to know the mighty Yahweh more than Nineveh? Who could possibly need a second chance more than those who are immersed in such cruel treatment of other nations? The Lord wants everyone to come to know his truth for themselves, and this just might be the reason that each of us may receive the same call to mission and ministry.

But Jonah makes the decision that either a) Nineveh is not worthy of Yahweh’s message, or b) that he is frightened nearly to death of the consequences of his going there, and that he’s not going! So he catches a ship out of Joppa, and heads for places unknown. But he was so focused on his image of Nineveh that he completely forgot who he was really dealing with. God will not be denied! His Will, his needs, his plan will take place, and we have to understand that he will bring it into being with us or without us, and if the plan is that we are to be the ones involved, then we will serve whether we like the idea or not!
And Jonah was about to learn this very valuable lesson through the most violent storm this ship’s crew had ever experienced. The gods that the crew members worshiped couldn’t help; jettisoning the cargo didn’t help; but God, even without Jonah’s prayers, would show this ill-fated venture just why the storm was battering them.

Read Jonah 1:8-10

The sailors had cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. And as they begin to question him regarding his transgression, we read of the fear that fell over them. The storm was bad enough, but apparently they knew of Yahweh and his great power, and the mere fact that someone had gone completely against the word that had been given to them, had driven them to an even greater distress.
These are rough, rugged men of the sea who have never worshiped Jonah’s God, and even they know that to deny this great God can be a terrible mistake. Jonah knew the power of God, and yet he thought that he could run away from his Lord. A very foolish and misguided man.

How about us? Don’t we know just who our God is, and what he can do, and what he may intend to do through us? And how many times do we say “Not me, not now, Lord. Ask someone else!” Now, it may be that God will allow us to say “No” for a few times, but at some point, we will have no choice but to say “Yes Lord, as you will”. And trust me when I tell you this, as I am first hand evidence of his will. I tried to avoid his call on my life for over 46 years, and finally, he got me in a place where he could get my attention and I couldn’t move, and I had no choice but to say “Yes Lord, as you will.”
And that time will certainly come to you, too, so why wait? Avoid all the struggle, all the anxiety, all the avoidance, all the “no’s”, and say “Yes” the next time you feel his call on your life!

But Jonah wasn’t at that point yet, and would choose drowning instead of saying “yes” to God, and he would tell the other men to throw him over the side, intending to take that ultimate and final swim with the fishes. Jonah was so set upon not doing what God wanted, that even death would seem to be a preferable alternative!

Read Jonah 1:13-17

To the sailors’ credit, as misguided as it was, they weren’t quite ready to drown the man who God was trying to use. But the more they tried to escape the storm, the worse the storm got, and as they prepared to do as Jonah said, they offered prayers and pleas to Yahweh to spare them from his wrath. It would almost seem as though these pagan men had greater faith in God than Jonah did! Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

The story is told of a man who got a permit to open the first tavern in a small town. The members of a local church were strongly opposed to the bar, so they began to pray that God would intervene. A few days before the tavern was to open, lightning hit the structure, and it burned to the ground.

The people of the church were surprised, but pleased -- until they received notice that the would-be tavern owner was suing them. He contended that their prayers were responsible for the burning of the building. In a strongly-worded deposition the church [flatly] denied the charge.

At the conclusion of the court hearing, the judge wryly remarked, “At this point I don't know what my decision will be, but [it] appears [that] the owner of the tavern believes in the power of prayer, and these church people don't.”
--From The Prairie Rambler, June 1993, 6.

Do you believe in the power of prayer? When either you call on God in the name of Jesus, or when he calls on you to share his gospel with others, are you ready to live with the results of your actions?

Jonah was not going to have a choice in the matter. He may have thought that Nineveh deserved the Lord’s wrath, and was afraid that if they received this message, that they just might choose to change their evil ways! And while that may have been God’s plan, it wasn’t Jonah’s!

So the lessons that we can learn from Jonah are these:

1) You can run from God, but you will never be able to hide from him! Our God is All Knowing and All Present. Wherever we may go, either physically or spiritually or intellectually, God will be there ahead of us. It isn’t a case of his knowing where we are going or what we might think, and can head us off – the truth is that he will already be there and already knows what is on our mind. We can’t escape God and his Will.

2) At some point in our wayward lives, God is going to turn us around and take us to the very place we didn’t want to go to in the first place. This may seem like a rather abrupt turn of events to us, but remember that we could have avoided all the “scuffle and tussle” with God if we had just trusted and obeyed him in the first place!

3) There is nothing that God won’t do to get our attention. He knows exactly what it will take to get us to say “Yes Lord. Your will, not mine.” Jonah had to weather a terrible storm and then take a 3 day cruise inside a huge fish before he was ready to listen. Hopefully, we won’t have to have such an extreme event in our lives to get us to respond to God’s call, but if that is what it would take, that is what can come our way.

Advice for the day: Save God and yourself all the trouble and lost time that comes from your saying “No” to him, and say “Yes” every time he comes and asks you to do some special task in his Holy Name. It will not only involve a lot less torment for you, but the blessings will come your way a lot sooner.

Be his messenger – joyfully, thankfully and prayerfully this very day. You’ll never regret it.