Jonah

God had a place for Jonah to go. He wanted him to go to Nineveh and cry against the wickedness there. Instead of rising up to follow the Lord, Jonah rose up to flee from the Lord and go to Tarshish. Jonah 1:3 says, “..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.” When we run from God’s will for our lives, several things will happen:

1) There will always be an alternative to God’s best for our lives. The Devil will be sure to tempt us with other choices that appear “good,” but really will take us in the opposite direction, away from where God would have us go.

2) There will be a price to pay for running from God. Jonah “paid the fare therof.” When we run from God, there will be a price to pay. It will sometimes cost us years of our life that we cannot get back. Sometimes the price will be mental and emotional scars that will be indelibly etched on our lives. Other times the cost will be our children, our family, or our marriage. Don’t run from God’s will. It costs too much.

3) Anything other than God’s very best is a setback. Tarshish may have been a better, bigger, and needier city, but God had not called Jonah to Tarshish. God had called Jonah to Nineveh. All logical reasoning may say you should stay home from the mission field. Your health, your financial situation, or your age may be screaming, “Stay home!” But if God has called you, then obey God not your logic.

4) The place and plan God has for you is where God will be with you and provide for you. Jonah was going to miss out on a lot by not going to Ninevey – seeing the people of Nineveh repent of their sin and get right with God and having God bless him—but the worst thing about fleeing from the place where God wanted him was that he would miss out on the presence of the Lord. No person, no place, nothing could substitute for the wonderful presence of the Lord. God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, but sometimes we leave and forsake the Lord. He wants to help us and comfort us, but by our disobedience we reject His comfort.

You may have run from the presence of God. You may have rejected God’s call. You may have lost out on God’s best for your life. But take hope, when you come to the end of yourself, God will hear your prayer (Jonah 2) and give you a second chance (Jonah 3:1).

TRS

Jon_1:5

Our disobedience will affect others. Many times, we think that if we do not obey the Lord that it is a choice we make and it has not affect on others. But a disobedient Christian can be one of the most dangerous people to be around, because of the chastening of the Lord. Many young people have been discouraged from going to the mission field because of parents, pastors, or friends who were out of God’s will. TRS

Jonah 1:12-16

We need to do all we can to help an erring Christian to obey the Lord, just as these men tried their best to help Jonah. There comes a point, however, when we must distance ourselves from those who will not follow God. They threw Jonah overboard and committed him to the Lord. Some people do not want to be helped, and if we stay around them, their pessimism, faithlessness, and disobedience will soon infect us and hurt our walk with God. That is probably why we have the following verse in 2 Thessalonians 3:6, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.” TRS

Jon_2:9

“Salvation is of the Lord.” Many times we forget this simple truth. In our evangelism, there must be a balance between compelling and coercion. Somewhere between the two is where our evangelistic efforts ought to fall, as we are led by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we act like we have no responsibility to tell the gospel. Other times, we act like we must make the decision for the person. Our job is to declare the message, to pray for the souls, and to give an invitation to Christ, but our job is not to draw the soul or convert the soul. The Bible says in Joh_6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” Let us be obedient to the Lord in proclaiming the gospel and persuading men to be saved, but let us know forget that if the Lord does not draw and convert, our efforts are in vain. TRS

Jon_3:10

How many cities are there like Nineveh around the world that have people who would repent of their sin and be saved, if we would just go and tell them? Jonah hated the people from Nineveh, but when he finally obeyed the Lord, the whole city repented of their sin and cried out for mercy. God wants to use you to do a mighty work, but He cannot do so if you are not willing to obey! TRS