Have You Ever Run From God?
When I graduated from college, I applied to medical school. This was the time the Vietnam War was raging, and the only deferment you could get was to attend medical school. I had a high lottery number and didn’t have to worry about being drafted. I ended up accepting a job as a chemist at Kelly Springfield Tire Company. It was a great job but not the job for me. I was miserable, and one day I was talking with my pastor, and he said, “God wants you to go to seminary and become a pastor.”
I didn’t want to hear this and went back to my miserable job. One night I sat down and said to God, “I’ll go to seminary if that’s what you want me to do.” I had already checked, and Duke University’s cut-off for admission had already passed. I applied to Duke anyway, and guess what, I was accepted.
I had run from God my whole life, and when I accepted God’s will, things began to happen. Accepting God’s will for my life was the best thing that ever happened to me, but it took me a while to recognize what His will was.
The prophet Jonah was running from God, too. God wanted Jonah to go and preach in Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-3). The story is probably pretty familiar to you. There was a fish, a storm, a swallowing and a reckoning in the belly of the fish. It was in the belly of the fish that Jonah faced what he’d done and cried out to God. (Jonah 2:2)
Jonah initially ministered in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (II Kings 14:23-28). God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn them to repent or face God’s judgement. Jonah went the opposite direction, and to discipline Jonah, God caused him to be swallowed by a big fish (Jonah 1:17). Jesus used this event to foretell His own burial and resurrection. Matthew 12:40 says, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
I take comfort in Jonah’s story because even despite Jonah’s stubbornness, God never let go of him. God will answer our prayers and restore us when we listen and obey. Stop running from God and allow God to control your life!
Prayer – Am I running from you, God? Please take control of my life and help me to listen to Your will! Amen.
Jonah 2:2 – “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”
By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Image: Yoksel Zok/Unsplash, Joshua Earle/Unsplash, Canva AI, Chinh Le Duc/Unsplash
