Running Away Doesn't Work

 

Scripture

 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ² “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” ³ But Jonah set out 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 his fare and went on board, 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 such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵ Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. ⁶ The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”

⁷ The sailors said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹ “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰ Then the men were even more 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 so.

¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.” ¹³ Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵ So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

¹⁷ But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Devotion

The Book of Jonah is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. Jonah is pretty much the worst prophet imaginable, and yet God still uses him to accomplish a great task.  Through Jonah's struggles with God and with his calling, we can learn important lessons about own less-then-perfect walks with God.  Therefore, we are going to spend the next two weeks going through the 4 chapters of this amazing story.

The book begins with God seeming to call Jonah, son of Amittai out of the blue and telling him to go speak on God's behalf in Nineveh.  Other than 2 Chronicles listing him as prophet from the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II, we know little about who Jonah was.  We do, however, know a good bit about Nineveh.  Located Northeast of Israel on the Eastern bank of the Tigris River (in what is now Iraq), Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire...and Northern Kingdom's greatest threat.  Jonah lived in a time when the Northern Kingdom still stood, but Assyria conquered Israel and deported its citizens as slaves before his book was actually written.

When Jonah receives the call to go preach to Nineveh, God is asking him to go proclaim God's word to Israel's oppressor.  This message will not be kind or uplifting.  No, Jonah, is sent to speak hard truths to both the city's residents and the powerful empire that Nineveh represents.  Such an act will take both faith and courage.

So what does Jonah do?  Well he hops the first ship going west to Tarshish, (located in what is modern day Spain).  Jonah is trying to get as far from Nineveh as he can possibly go.  Then, when God hurls a storm at the ship to get him back on track, Jonah tries to literally sleep through God's call.  When that plan doesn't work either, he tells his shipmates to throw him overboard.  Jonah would  rather literally die than go to Nineveh. 

Jonah's attempt to flee as far as he can from what God is calling him to do may feel familiar.  After all, who hasn't briefly considered running to the ends of the earth when God gives us a difficult or frightening task to complete?  We think that if we run far enough and fast enough or if we just bury our heads in the sand for long enough, then God will surely find someone else to do what we've been asked to do.  There may even be times when we think we would rather die than do as God has asked.  

Like Jonah, we eventually learn that running from God's call doesn't work.  Ignoring it in hopes that it will go away doesn't work.  Even saying we would rather die doesn't work.  If God wants us to do something, we are going to end up dong it...even if God has to hunt us down and force our hand.   And when we finally come around to answering God's call, we may be surprised by the places we end up. 

When I first started seminary,  I was surprised by just how many of us (including myself) had a call-story that included trying to go anywhere but there and do anything but officially devote our lives to working for the Church.  Some of us had been teachers.  Others were nurses or parole officers or stay-at-home parents.  Somewhere along the line, God began calling us to a different kind of work.... one that we were terrified of pursuing.  While it took some time to for God to get us there (often kicking and screaming),  we all ended up in a place where we could stop running and begin to truly discern just what type of ministry God had in store for us.  In  many ways, seminary was our "belly of the fish."

As we begin our journey through Jonah, I invite you to ask yourself a few questions:

1. What is God calling you to do?  
2. How you answered that call?  Are you moving toward it, running away, or trying to ignore it?  
3. If you aren't currently pursing it, how could God help you sit down with yourself and begin the process of accepting it?
4. If you are pursing it, how might you do so in ways that are an example to others who are currently on the run?

However you answer these questions, I hope you know that God has already ensured that who you are and the gifts you have at your disposal will be enough to help you successfully live into the call that you have been given.  You can have the courage and the faith to say "yes" to God's call...even if it is sending you to a modern-day Nineveh.   Fear not, my Jonahs, for God is chasing us down to help us answer our call.  And as we shall see over the next three blog posts, even the most unlikely of prophets can do great things when God is there to guide them.

Prayer

God, you have called me for your divine purposes.  Forgive me for the times that I have tried to run from you.  Give me the courage to accept my call and answer it according to your will.  Amen.