No escaping him
The Lord spoke to Jonah son of Amittai: "Nineveh is a big city. I have heard about the many evil things the people are doing there. So go there and tell them to stop doing such evil things.” But Jonah tried to run away from the Lord. He went to Joppa and found a boat that was going to the faraway city of Tarshish. Jonah paid money for the trip and went on the boat. He wanted to travel with the people on this boat to Tarshish and run away from the Lord. (Jonah 1:1-3)
Have you ever tried to run away from God? If you are anything like Jonah, chances are there have been times when God has asked you to do something you didn't agree with, nor did you actually 'want' to do. It comes as no surprise to God that we would actually 'resist' when things aren't exactly as we thought they should be, or that he has a different plan than what we may have laid out for ourselves. It should also not surprise us that God knows when we will resist because our 'opinion' of the matter is different from his!
Don't lose sight of the fact that God actually chose Jonah - so he knew his heart, understood his bullheadedness, and wasn't put off by his thinking he knew better than God. To be perfectly honest here, there have been times in my own life when I thought I knew better than God, going off in the direction I chose instead of the one he had laid out pretty clearly before me. That never ended well for me! God's plans are sometimes contrary to ours, but when we don't yield to them, we may find ourselves facing way 'bigger' and 'darker' circumstances than we might ever have imagined possible.
I doubt Jonah expected the whale. Nor do I expect he appreciated the not so 'comfortable' situation he found himself in when he resisted God's direction. We cannot expect God to just let us go our own way, rebelling against his will, trying to put distance between his purpose and our determined resistance for very long. Eventually we will realize our misguided plans don't actually land us where we wanted to be. When we do, we need to stop running and actually begin to listen intently to the leading he gives.
Our rebellion took us places we didn't want to go and into experiences we didn't actually enjoy all that much, but God's grace stands ready to restore us once we have had enough of our folly. Just sayin!
Have you ever tried to run away from God? If you are anything like Jonah, chances are there have been times when God has asked you to do something you didn't agree with, nor did you actually 'want' to do. It comes as no surprise to God that we would actually 'resist' when things aren't exactly as we thought they should be, or that he has a different plan than what we may have laid out for ourselves. It should also not surprise us that God knows when we will resist because our 'opinion' of the matter is different from his!
Don't lose sight of the fact that God actually chose Jonah - so he knew his heart, understood his bullheadedness, and wasn't put off by his thinking he knew better than God. To be perfectly honest here, there have been times in my own life when I thought I knew better than God, going off in the direction I chose instead of the one he had laid out pretty clearly before me. That never ended well for me! God's plans are sometimes contrary to ours, but when we don't yield to them, we may find ourselves facing way 'bigger' and 'darker' circumstances than we might ever have imagined possible.
I doubt Jonah expected the whale. Nor do I expect he appreciated the not so 'comfortable' situation he found himself in when he resisted God's direction. We cannot expect God to just let us go our own way, rebelling against his will, trying to put distance between his purpose and our determined resistance for very long. Eventually we will realize our misguided plans don't actually land us where we wanted to be. When we do, we need to stop running and actually begin to listen intently to the leading he gives.
Our rebellion took us places we didn't want to go and into experiences we didn't actually enjoy all that much, but God's grace stands ready to restore us once we have had enough of our folly. Just sayin!
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