Jonah Flees From the Lord (Jonah 1:1-6).

            1. The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2. “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

            3. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

            4. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

But Jonah had gone below the deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

Jonah Flees From the Lord.

(Jonah 1:1-6).

                The book of Jonah in the bible was written by the prophet of the same name under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It was because of cases like this that we are able to study the word of God today.

                The bible states that the word of the Lord came to Jonah and said, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.’ (Jonah 1:2-3 NIV)

                Jonah was in Israel when God requested that he go to Nineveh, a city situated on the way to Iraq and Tarshish in the direction of Spain. If we take notice of this, God asked Jonah to head East but he actually heads towards the West.

                Why did Jonah refuse to preach the word of God in Nineveh? This is because Nineveh is the capital of Assyria.  During this time, Assyria and Israel were enemies. Jonah thought that if a war were to break out, the Israelites would be defeated. He was a prophet after all, Jonah knows that the LORD hates sin therefore Jonah didn’t want to afford the Assyrians the chance to confess their sins and have them forgiven. They would remain sinners and God would punish them and the Israelites wouldn’t have to go to battle to be the victors.

                Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jonah followed his own way of thinking, making excuses for why he didn’t follow God’s instruction. Has Jonah sinned against God? What about us? Do we follow God’s instruction? His word teaches us “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” (1 John 2:15 NIV). Things of the world, what does that mean? There’s a saying in Vietnamese that when translated it means such is the love for money that you’re even reluctant to spend silver coins. Truth be told, we do need certain materialistic things to survive in this world. God knows this. He has blessed us with a place to live, cars and financial stability. This is already more than enough. We should be wary of wanting our homes to be larger and grander than others and desiring our cars to be the latest models. Furthermore, we shouldn’t worry ourselves with keeping our treasures here on Earth. Let’s live our lives according to the word of God “If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1Timothy 6:8 NIV) and not focus on increasing our wealth beyond measure for “those who want to get rich fall into temptation” (1Timothy 6:9 NIV).

                The bible also teaches us not to be money hungry and for those who are slaves to it is in themselves like Jonah, God gives an instruction to go one way and we end up going down a completely different path.

                Jonah ran away from the Lord in a bid to hide from His view. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do you feel like chuckling when you hear this? How is it even possible to hide from the almighty, all-knowing, all-seeing God’s view? The Psalmist says “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”  (Psalms 139:7-8 NIV). Therefore today, when we do anything we should remember that we cannot avoid God, He sees all things and He knows all things, every little detail that we conceal from others we cannot hide from Him.

                The Lord commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and instead he went to elsewhere. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for a port in Tarshish. Jonah asked how much the fare was, paid it and boarded. Everything went smoothly and it appears as if one event simply flowed nicely onto the next. Does this mean that God has blessed Jonah’s decision?

                There was a person who wanted to claim more welfare money and went to the social security office, telling the officer there that he had separated from his wife and asked for a form to fill out. The request was put through by the officers and the man earned more welfare thereafter. He went home once all was approved and boasted to everyone. “God has blessed me! Everything went well, no difficulties encountered.” Brothers and sisters, what do you think? Was it God who oversaw this? Let’s think back to Eve who gave in to the devil’s temptation and ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. God didn’t intervene or force her not to. In that moment, Eve was able to pick the fruit and eat it. Just because she was able to, doesn’t mean that the very thing Eve did was because the Lord blessed her. God was simply respecting Eve’s freedom of choice therefore, we need to be wary of what we do and take personal responsibility for our actions.

                The story of Jonah continues, “But the LORD sent a strong wind on the sea, and the storm was so violent that the ship was in danger of breaking up.” (Jonah 1:4 NIV).  Anyone who has been a refugee by boat knows that one of the biggest fears  while navigating the seas are storms. But the fear isn’t just limited to this, severe storms can happen on land as well. An example of the devastation and destruction that can result from these natural disasters is Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. These can happen anywhere, even in a powerful first world country like America.

                People are afraid of these natural disasters occurring but for us, we need to be fearful of the storms that can rage in our families, our congregation and in our wider church community as well. If we’re not careful, these can damage the happiness and foundation of some of the most important relationships in our lives.

                Dear Friends, why do you think the boat Jonah was travelling on experienced such rough conditions? It is because of Jonah’s sin. This is akin to our own families, if we store sin within the four walls of our home, then such storms like the one Jonah faced will hit as well. The word of God teaches in Hosea 8:7 “When they sow the wind, they will reap a storm!” Sowing the wind in our families involves parents not taking law and order seriously, husbands and wives lying and cheating, dishonest children, one person holding a grudge against another… Even though these issues that crop up in our families mightn’t be a big deal, they can in time build up to become real problems. This is why we hear people lament and say, my family is not blessed.

                When Jonah decided to go into hiding from God, he paid his fare, boarded a ship at Joppa and went “below and was lying in the ship’s hold, sound asleep.” (Jonah 1:5 NIV). We see here that Jonah was heading on a down slope.

                When following God, our lives are on an upward trajectory. Hymn number 242 contains the lyrics “The Lord uplifts me, higher and higher”. Experience would tell us that moving uphill is difficult and going downhill easy. We lie in bed on Sunday mornings, thinking it would be much easier than sitting up and getting ready for church. A spiritual life going downhill manifests itself in not wanting to attend church, not reading God’s word, easily angered, judgemental, and meagre when it comes to offerings… Not wanting to think of what ways one can serve the Lord, what ways would please Him?

                When Jonah went below to the ship’s hold, he believed that he was safe. He had no qualms with anyone on board, the captain and crew and could sleep soundly in this knowledge. Jonah was at peace with everyone except God. Why? Because he had not followed the Lord’s will and had acted on his own. It is because of this that Jonah’s path would not be straight.

                Today, there are many who are just like this. Isaiah says “All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6 NIV). At times, we are like Jonah, acting upon our own thoughts and desires. In doing so, we are opposing God. Those who do are “far away from God and were his enemies” (Colossians 1:21 NIV). When we are far from God, there is no way that we can be at peace.

                Jonah sinned against God and even though he went far below the ship’s hold and fell asleep, he would still face trouble. The storm was threatening the ship. Everyone on board was afraid. They tried to throw cargo overboard to lighten the load. All were praying to their gods to save them, however we know that these idols “do not really exist” (1Corinthians 8:4 NIV).  Because of this, the storm did not subside. The captain rushed to wake Jonah and said “What are you doing asleep? Get up and pray to your god for help!” (Jonah 1:6 NIV).

                While everyone was frantic and believing that they would die at sea, Jonah was sleeping soundly! Why was he able to do this, despite the situation? Perhaps Jonah thought that because he was a believer he would be saved regardless, his name has already been written in the book of life. Jonah rest assured that this was the case. Do you think this is the right attitude?

                Today, is there any brother and sister in Christ who has that same thought process? We have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, of course we’re going to go heaven and be with our God. Whoever is not, then that’s their business? If so, do you think that this pleases God? The Lord is able to send a storm into our lives to awaken us.

                My brothers and sisters in Christ, we all know that life is short. Moses noted in Psalms “Seventy years is all we have – eighty years, if we are strong… life is soon over, and we are gone” (Psalms 90:10 NIV). It was only the other day that we were young and all of a sudden we’re not! Where did the time go? Time flies and if we don’t make the most of it, we’re going to feel as though it’s wasted; time watching TV, playing video games, time spent on things that have little benefit. It won’t be long until our time will run out and we will step into eternity, not spreading the good news to anyone else while we were still here on Earth. And then when we meet our God, what will we say to Him? Don’t let that be a regret that you carry.

                Jonah did not follow God’s plan to preach at Nineveh. What about you my friends? The word of God says “…but when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me” (Acts 1:8). The Lord calls us and the Spirit reminds us to share the amazing gift He gave us in the form of His one and only Son. We can’t say to Him “God, in time, just a few more days”. We make these promises but we can easily forget, isn’t it?

                My brothers and sisters in Christ, go out and love others, share the good news with those who are still living in sin and bring them to know Jesus Christ so that they can be saved. We are called to do good works like this. The bible teaches “… if we do not do the good we know we should do, we are guilty of sin” (James 4:17 NIV). What do you all think? We know what is good, so do we act on it?

                I pray that God will give each and every one of us the strength to reject our own will so that we can follow His, that we will remain alert and ready, not falling asleep like Jonah did when the Lord calls. I pray that God will bless us with the words and opportunity to spread the good news so that more people will come to know the unending, merciful love of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Rev Thanh Huu Tran.

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