Fleeing God

Jonah 1:1–16 ESV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. 4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” 7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

How many of us have been praying for God to use us in some capacity, but then have second thoughts when God presents us with His plan and will for our life? Oftentimes, we are searching for God, but then we run from Him when we find Him. This can happen to devout Christians, as well as new believers who are searching for God’s will.

As we look at Jonah these next few weeks, In 2 Kings, we find a prophet who will succeed Elisha, serving during the time of Jeroboam II reigning in Israel. It was a time again of evil rule, and were still tormented by the Syrian threat of war. Jonah promised that the victories promised to Jehoash by Elisha on his deathbed would continue for his son Jeroboam II. Through Jeroboams reign, God, through compassion, would allow Israel’s boundaries to be restored in spite of a sinful King and the nations sin.

Now, we see a prophet who God used mightily to both prophecy what would occur and would see the nation come closer to restoration during his time. But in the book of Jonah, we find the faithful prophet…unfaithful…and as a result, he flees from God’s will for him.

Running from God

Jonah 1:1–3 ESV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

While Jonah was going about the business of the Lord, God changes his direction with two imperatives and a destination. “Arise, go to Nineveh”. Nineveh was an Assyrian city that had become the poster child of evil, and had been threatened by God to completely destroy the city if it did not repent. Not only was it evil, but the Assyrians were considered an enemy to Israel.

Why would God call His prophet into the middle of an evil, enemy territory? That more than likely was the question Jonah would have raised. Jonah despised Nineveh, and as we will later see was disappointed when the people repented. This stance may have been the result of Assyrian dominance throughout the area. Both Israel (northern kingdom) and Judah (southern kingdom) were subject to Assyrian rule and experienced the harsh treatment with which Assyria maintained control.

For whatever reason, Jonah did not want to travel to Nineveh. Yet God told him “their evil has come up before me”. God recognized the sin in Nineveh, but in His mercy, he saw the need for salvation even to the Ninevites, regardless of how debased they were. Jonah was to point out their sins, call them out, point out their shortcomings.

In Nineveh were people who simply ignored God, and they assumed He ignored them, too. Instead, we find a God who set a plan in motion for them to hear the Gospel Message. They may not have been worried about their sin, but God was.

Instead of doing God’s Will, Jonah ran the other direction. Not only did he run, he tried to outrun God. Nineveh was only 500 miles from Israel, while Tarshish was 2,000 miles…in the opposite direction. He was trying to separate himself from God’s work with 2,500 miles. Determined to not do God’s work, Jonah found himself in direct conflict with God.

Oftentimes, we may not like where God may be taking us when He asks us to do His will. Where would we be uncomfortable witnessing? What if God called this church to minister to those in the federal prison? How many of us would be willing to stand up and go into a max-security lockup? Think that’s scary, how about listening to God and taking on a: Sunday school class, youth class, children’s ministry, prayer group, the list can go on and on.

Unfortunately, many sit in pews today in the same manner as either the Ninevites or Jonah, ignoring God or running from Him. Don’t let us get away from the presence of the Lord as Jonah did.

Caught, Guilty, Red-Handed

Jonah 1:4–6 ESV

4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah may have tried to outrun God, but God is always one step ahead. Talk about the dumbest thing that could be done - this man knew God could find him and would speak to him directly at any time, any place, any where, yet he tried to completely go against God. He thought he could walk away from a divine assignment. God was about to teach him otherwise. Isn’t it amazing how God gives us those “teaching moments”? Jonah was about to find out that he couldn’t just “resign” from God, because God was not done with him yet.

God placed a storm in his path so fierce that it was threatening to tear the ship to pieces. Notice that the disobedience of God’s man threatened the lives of all those with him. The storm was so intense, these seasoned sailors were throwing everything unnecessary out of the boat to keep it from capsizing. We see a picture of the prophet snoozing, apparently oblivious of the danger around him. It makes me wonder, was he THAT oblivious or did he think he was just so close to God he could do whatever he wanted and not face any correction? In contrast to the disobedient prophet, the wind, the sea, and even the ship were tuned in to the Lord’s purposes

Makes me think we need to guard against thinking we are so close to God we can never get out of His will for our life.

When the captain found him asleep, notice what he said to him “Arise, call out to your god!” In the previous verse we read that the rest of the sailors were praying to “his god”. Reminds me of the Jerry Clower joke where John Eubanks climbed a tree searching for a raccoon, but found a lynx instead. As they were urging John to knock him out, he was hollering out in a fight of his life. Finally, John screams back for someone to shoot up in the tree amongst him and the lynx. Of course, those on the ground didn’t want to do that for fear they would accidently hit John. But John hollers back, “Shoot up here amongst us, because one of us needs some relief!” These old boys on he boat were trying to find some relief! Unfortunately, they were praying to something that had no control over the chaos THE God of the universe had created. Since their gods were not listening, maybe the God of Jonah would keep them from dying. Isn’t it amazing that a pagan outshined Jonah in understanding of divine truth.

Have we ever been so heavenly focused that we are of no earthly good? Listen close, can we fool ourselves into thinking we are so close to God, and we know His will and direction for our lives that we forget to consult Him? While we really don’t know WHAT Jonah was thinking, we see what his ACTIONS brought in the form of correction. It took a heathen sea captain to fuss at a prophet to pray in a time of great peril. Don’t ever let us lose sight of God, His will and direction for our lives, or the situations that need fervent prayer.

Consequence of Disobedience

Jonah 1:7–10 ESV

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

The sailors hadn’t seen any result of the prayers to their gods, so they went to a further pagan skill to find out WHO caused this evil to befall them. They were desperate enough to start rolling dice to see who was guilty! In this case, stones or pebbles were painted or colored. If two light sides landed up, it meant yes. A light and dark meant throw again. Tow darks meant no. Who is guilty was it you? (rolls dice) no. You (rolls dice) no. You…and it goes on and on until they come to Jonah. The lots are cast. You are the one. Can you imagine the thoughts going through his head at this time? Can’t you hear him in his own mind? It can’t be me, I’m God’s prophet! He forgot that he was God’s prophet OUT of God’s will. Then the questions no one want’s to answer who are you, where did you come from, what’s your job, and who’s your family?

These sailors were ready o take things into their own hands. Their lives were at risk and they demanded answers. For the first time in the story Jonah speaks. But he responds to all their questions with only two answers, which are simple and relatively short. “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

I find it ironic that the man who defiantly disobeyed God by running as far away as possible from God’s assignment was not acknowledging his God as the Creator of the sea and dry land. “Yes, I worship the one who is causing this storm”.

When they realized the magnitude of the sin Jonah had committed, the sailors were scared to death, asking what they should to to make HIS God stop this stormy sea. Again, these were seasoned sailors, who had weathered many storms at sea. But this one was different. When they realized the source of the storm their fear turned into a “holy” fear, a reverence to the Supreme God Jonah served. The New American Commentary makes this observation “To run away from a god was foolish; but to run from “the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land” was suicidal. Their question, “What have you done?” was not a question about the nature of Jonah’s sin but an exclamation of horror. They were frightened to the depths of their beings.”

Do we have a holy fear/reverence for the God that created all we see, feel, hear, touch, etc.? At times I think we don’t realize until we find ourselves running away, when we may find ourselves out of God’s Will, or when we find ourselves caught in sin and having to confess it all.

Calming the Storm

Jonah 1:11–16 ESV

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Now they look for a solution for their problem - “what shall we do to you”??? They didn’t care what they had to do as long as it calmed the storm. Notice how Jonah responds - he owns his sin, and accepts the consequences. I don’t see this as having mercy on the crew as much as God convicting Jonah’s heart. Interestingly enough, we do not see a picture of repentance, we don’t see an evangelistic movement, only his acceptance of the situation and solution. “Hurl me into the sea” THEN the sea will calm.

It seems as though this solution isn’t even something the sailor’s want to do. They, instead, tried to row harder to get to land but the storm kept them at sea. Interestingly, now the pagan sailors call out to God “O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood”. The unbelievers believed in the power of Jonah’s God, and asked that they not die for something HE did, and to not be held responsible for his death. In their final statement, the sailors attempted to place blame on God. “You have done what pleased you”. All they knew was Jonah displeased God, and now they were suffering because of God’s wrath. They picked Jonah up, and chunked him in the sea, and the sea got quiet. In verse 16 it says the men feared the Lord exceedingly. These sailors had a fearful reverence of God. While they may have not known Him personally, they had just experienced His might and power. But, they just added God to their list of god(s) they believed in. It is sad but true that there are some who seem to recognize the power of the Lord but refuse to receive him as Lord and Savior. It would be wonderful to know that these sailors continued in their fear of the Lord and ultimately came to “know” him, but their ultimate end is unknown.

Conclusion

Even sinners who refuse to acknowledge God still suffer His wrath. Why? Because they refuse Him. Today, I ask, do you just “fear” the wrath of God, or do you KNOW THE one God of the universe as your personal Savior?