You Can't Run From God

YOU CAN’T RUN FROM GOD

Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Jonah receives his marching orders, but he doesn’t like them so he decides he will not follow them. Being a prophet of the Lord he should have known he could run but would not be able to hide. Instead of going to Nineveh he went to Joppa and got on a ship going to Tarshish, which is in the opposite direction of Nineveh, trying to flee from the presence of the Lord. In Psalm 139 David tells us this is impossible.

Psalm 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

David realized wherever he went God was there. Friend, it is true for you and I today as well. You may think that God is not where you are watching you, but He is. Also He knows if you are obedient to His words that He has spoken to you. I know in my own life that when He called me to preach, I wanted to buy a ticket and go the opposite way. But He would not leave me alone. I dealt with the call for a long time putting up my very best arguments as to why I couldn’t do what I knew in my heart He was calling me to. You know I could not do what He wanted me to, but he could through me. I know that I am not a “big time” preacher and most people don’t know who I am and aren’t wanting to hear what I say but I know I am doing what the Lord has called me to do. Jonah didn’t like the people God was sending him to and really didn’t want them to repent and be spared. I didn’t have that as an issue as I care for people and especiallytheir souls I just thought I couldn’t help them. Jonah just didn’t care for the people of Nineveh.

Jonah found out he could not run from God and get away. It took him being swallowed by a great fish, (we believe it had to be a whale) for him to decide he would go wherever God wanted him to go. I never had that happen but I spent many restless nights with very little sleep wrestling with the call. Finally I relented and decided I had to do what God wanted me to in order to have any peace in my life. Jonah decided he would do what God wanted, but even though he did what he was told to he didn’t want the outcome that happened. He was angry that the people of Nineveh repented.

Listen friend, if the Lord has called you to do something and you really don’t want to do it or think you can’t do it, just trust the Lord to do it through you. You will save your self a lot of problems if you will just obey. Because you can run but you can’t hide from the Lord.

Have a great day