“The Word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘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…” (Jonah 1)
Jonah ran away.
Why?
God gave Jonah a directive to go preach to a wicked, foreign people. Ninevah was considered by the nation of Israel to be a great menace. At one time it was the capitol of Assyria, which was a very real threat from the north. After Israel’s latest triumph over them, she began to gloat over her newfound power and became “jealously complacent” about her favored status with God. (Am 6:1) Israel looked forward to the day when God would judge the other nations, “leaving Israel to bask in His light.“ (NIV study Bible notes)
It is in this context that God instructed Jonah to go to Ninevah. Why wasn’t Jonah so eager to go preach a repentance message to the people of Ninevah? Clearly Jonah feared for his life and didn’t want the Ninevites to kill him. But I also think there was more to Jonah’s rebellion against God than pure fear.
I think it might be because Jonah knew God so very well.
Perhaps Jonah knew that God doesn’t speak to a nation about their character or spiritual condition unless He cares about them. A quick look through the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel makes this abundantly clear as in those texts and others God hammers away at the character of the nation of Israel, His chosen and beloved nation. Jonah was an Israelite. ….Perhaps Jonah didn’t want God to care about any nation other than his own.
If the nation of Israel was God’s beloved, then, in their mindset, there was no room in God’s heart for any others.
…Or was there?
In running away from God, Jonah wasn’t just refusing to obey a simple command, he was refusing to submit his heart to believing in the real character of God – a God whose love cannot be contained or confined to borders or nations.
I think sometimes we have a tendency to be just like Jonah.
We want to define God and His actions according to our own definition and we refuse to admit that perhaps He is bigger than our own self-centered picture of Him.
Perhaps God is the God of extending grace to the guilty who continue in their sinful ways, the God who sometimes blesses those who have brought disaster upon themselves, the God who loves the unloveable, the God who lifts up and honors very unlikely people, the God who makes a way through the impossible, the God who doesn’t always remove pain, suffering, or heartache and instead offers His comfort and companionship through it, the God who turns ashes and ugliness into something of incredible beauty, and the God who is compassionate and empathetic towards any of us who are stuck in our sin even when we might not even be looking for a way out, and the God of sooo much more.
Perhaps God is much, much bigger than the box we would rather keep Him in.
Are we going to choose to avoid acknowledging the true character of God, running away from Him like Jonah did, or are we going to truly get to know God and join Him in what He is doing, allowing the walls of our self-made box to be smashed open as we recognize and acknowledge the mysterious, mind-blowing character of the Almighty?
He is more. He is so much more.
Jonah ran away.
Why?
God gave Jonah a directive to go preach to a wicked, foreign people. Ninevah was considered by the nation of Israel to be a great menace. At one time it was the capitol of Assyria, which was a very real threat from the north. After Israel’s latest triumph over them, she began to gloat over her newfound power and became “jealously complacent” about her favored status with God. (Am 6:1) Israel looked forward to the day when God would judge the other nations, “leaving Israel to bask in His light.“ (NIV study Bible notes)
It is in this context that God instructed Jonah to go to Ninevah. Why wasn’t Jonah so eager to go preach a repentance message to the people of Ninevah? Clearly Jonah feared for his life and didn’t want the Ninevites to kill him. But I also think there was more to Jonah’s rebellion against God than pure fear.
I think it might be because Jonah knew God so very well.
Perhaps Jonah knew that God doesn’t speak to a nation about their character or spiritual condition unless He cares about them. A quick look through the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel makes this abundantly clear as in those texts and others God hammers away at the character of the nation of Israel, His chosen and beloved nation. Jonah was an Israelite. ….Perhaps Jonah didn’t want God to care about any nation other than his own.
If the nation of Israel was God’s beloved, then, in their mindset, there was no room in God’s heart for any others.
…Or was there?
In running away from God, Jonah wasn’t just refusing to obey a simple command, he was refusing to submit his heart to believing in the real character of God – a God whose love cannot be contained or confined to borders or nations.
I think sometimes we have a tendency to be just like Jonah.
We want to define God and His actions according to our own definition and we refuse to admit that perhaps He is bigger than our own self-centered picture of Him.
Perhaps God is the God of extending grace to the guilty who continue in their sinful ways, the God who sometimes blesses those who have brought disaster upon themselves, the God who loves the unloveable, the God who lifts up and honors very unlikely people, the God who makes a way through the impossible, the God who doesn’t always remove pain, suffering, or heartache and instead offers His comfort and companionship through it, the God who turns ashes and ugliness into something of incredible beauty, and the God who is compassionate and empathetic towards any of us who are stuck in our sin even when we might not even be looking for a way out, and the God of sooo much more.
Perhaps God is much, much bigger than the box we would rather keep Him in.
Are we going to choose to avoid acknowledging the true character of God, running away from Him like Jonah did, or are we going to truly get to know God and join Him in what He is doing, allowing the walls of our self-made box to be smashed open as we recognize and acknowledge the mysterious, mind-blowing character of the Almighty?
He is more. He is so much more.
