Man on the Run | Jonah 1
How many of you are Christians…who are running from God? You say, “I came to church today. I’m not running from God.” Many of us have areas in our lives where God has called us, but we are running from it. Maybe it is with our relationships (unhealthy, unforgiveness, ungodly) or with our money (greed, waste, not generous) or careers or sinful habits or sharing the gospel with someone. Is there something in your life that you know God wants you to do, but you don’t want to do? God’s plan will at times clash with our plans; we are fine with God’s plans if they go along with our plans. Often, we want to write the story of our lives rather than surrender to the plan God has for our lives.
Most people are familiar with the story of Jonah; from Flannel Boards to Veggie Tales, it is a story we learn as kids. The narrative of Jonah seduces readers into thinking of it as a simple story of a great fish swallowing a rebellious prophet. Secular scholars ridicule the book as fiction or allegory like Moby Dick. But if you accept that God created the universe and that Jesus rose from the dead, you should have no issues with Jonah being swallowed by a fish. What is this story all about? The book of Jonah is not about Jonah, a Fish, or about Nineveh. The book of Jonah is about God and His relentless pursuit of grace and mercy for rebels. The book of Jonah is not a window to see the world but a mirror to see ourselves. Chapter one teaches us that Jonah, a prophet God called to go to a people He loved had a problem that caused him to disobey and yet God pursued him by His grace even though Jonah did not deserve it.