God Calls & Jonah Runs

April 22nd, 2012

God & Jonah

God Calls: The word of the Lord came to Jonah.

God gives the Order: “Arise, go to the great city of Nineveh”

God gives the Mission: “Preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

Jonah Runs Away: “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”

Why Did Jonah Run? Defiance? Literally trying to escape God’s

view? Feared for his life? The Assyrians in Nineveh were

pagans? Too busy? Trip he always wanted to go on?

Primary Reason for Running

The book of Jonah will show that Jonah ran away because he was in

sharp disagreement with God’s way of dealing with the wicked people of

Nineveh.

2 Sides to Jonah’s Reason for Running

Negative Side: By running, Jonah showed his unwillingness to do God’s will in

God’s way.

Positive Side: By running, Jonah showed that he truly

believed in the mercy and forgiveness of God for the wicked.

Lessons on Running From God

Lesson #1: We can be running from the will of God

while thinking signs around us are evidence that we are actually in the

will of God.

3 Things that went Right when Jonah Ran

1) Jonah found a ship heading in the exact direction he wanted to go.

2) Jonah had the means to pay the fare to go on the ship.

3) There was room on the ship for Jonah.

Lessons on Running From God

Lesson #2: We run from God by immersing ourselves

in a secular culture that all but drowns out the voice of God.

Lessons on Running From God

Lesson #3: We run from God when we are unwilling

to allow the mercy and forgiveness of God to flow through us to those in

most need of his mercy and forgiveness.