When we go over children’s Bible stories, Jonah is always one of the most popular. In your children’s story book there’s always a picture of Jonah stuck inside this great big fish. In these pictures the fish’s stomach is so big that Jonah looks like he fits comfortably in the fish. More than likely it would’ve been dark, slimy, smelly and he would’ve been covered in whatever it is that the fish ate the night before. If you suffer from claustrophobia this would’ve been horrible, I’m sure. The fish’s stomach was probably stretched out to max capacity barely giving Jonah any room to move. I’m sure he definitely felt like he was suffocating. In the same way Jonah ran from God, and probably had a terrible time trying to breathe while in the belly of the fish, we too run from God. Just like Jonah, when God tells us ‘enough running from me’ you should do what he asked of you. Whether it be evangelizing, changing jobs, stepping up into a spotlight role, or moving away to better serve him. It can sometimes feel like the walls are caving in and you start to hyperventilate, just like Jonah probably did in that fish.
This is no doubt Satan playing mind tricks on you. If the Holy Spirit is tugging on your heart to do something, God is in complete control of the situation and you are where He wants you to be. Take a few minutes and pray thanking Him in some way because there is power in prayer.
Reading the first chapter of Jonah, it right away reminded me of a few weeks ago. There’s no doubt a moment I ran from God. A couple buddies and I went to the Hatchet House to throw axes. We had this one kid, he couldn’t have been any older than 20 teaching us how to throw the axe. Now I’m not God and I don’t know his heart, but by the way this young fella was talking with every other word being an expletive I thought that he was probably a lost soul. He taught us for about an hour and I couldn’t build up the courage to even just give him a simple gospel tract. Every time an opportunity presented itself for me to go give him a tract or talk with him about Jesus I made up excuses in my mind as to why I shouldn’t. This was me being Jonah, and fleeing God. Another thing is that the men I was with that night have been born again, and I’m pretty sure not one of us said a thing to this lost soul. We are to be like Jesus not Jonah.
“ If you want to run from God, the devil will always provide the transportation.”
Dr. Jerry Vines