– Scripture:

              Running Away from God

One day long ago, God’s Word came to Jonah, Amittai’s son: “Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.”  But Jonah got up and went in the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish—as far away from God as he could get. But God sent a huge storm at sea, the waves towering. The ship was about to break into pieces. The sailors were terrified. They called out in desperation to their gods. They threw everything they were carrying overboard to lighten the ship. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship to take a nap. He was sound asleep. The captain came to him and said, “What’s this? Sleeping! Get up! Pray to your god! Maybe your god will see we’re in trouble and rescue us.” Then the sailors said to one another, “Let’s get to the bottom of this. Let’s draw straws to identify the culprit on this ship who’s responsible for this disaster.” So they drew straws. Jonah got the short straw. Then they grilled him: “Confess. Why this disaster? What is your work? Where do you come from? What country? What family?” He told them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship God, the God of heaven who made sea and land.” At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, “What on earth have you done!” As Jonah talked, the sailors realized that he was running away from God. They said to him, “What are we going to do with you—to get rid of this storm?” By this time the sea was wild, totally out of control. Jonah said, “Throw me overboard, into the sea. Then the storm will stop. It’s all my fault. I’m the cause of the storm. Get rid of me and you’ll get rid of the storm.” But no. The men tried rowing back to shore. They made no headway. The storm only got worse and worse, wild and raging.

                         Jonah 1:1–13 MSG

Key Verse – At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, “What on earth have you done!” As Jonah talked, the sailors realized that he was running away from God.

– Reflection:

It’s easy to avoid things in life that we should be dealing with. Instead of forgiving people who have done us wrong and moving on, we push the hurt down. Or maybe we need to apologize to someone, but that’s uncomfortable, so we keep putting it off. Perhaps a new door opens, and we know it’s a God-given opportunity, but we’re afraid and feel unqualified. Instead of confronting our fear or what’s uncomfortable, we run from it, even from God’s call.

Where do we go from here?

As long as you’re running away, you’re going to miss the meaning for all the things that you can’t explain but know, that greatness God put in you will go unanswered. You can’t win against what you don’t stand in front of. Too often we’re comforting what we should be confronting. We’re making lists of excuses, more reasons to run. But you can’t run from everything that’s uncomfortable and scary. You can’t ignore issues, sweep them under the rug, and think they’ll go away. When you get honest with yourself, when you confront what you know you need to deal with, it may be uncomfortable, but God gives you the grace, the strength, and the power to do what you couldn’t do on your own.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank You for always calling us higher and calling us to lay aside the list of excuses that keep us from being my best. Help us to stand in front the areas we need to deal with and to step out in faith and see change. We believe that with Your help we can overcome and be victorious. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.