Running from God

Today: Obadiah-Jonah

I'm not a rocket scientist, but I think it would be pretty crazy to try an outrun a cheetah. Or a Ferrari. Or an Olympic athlete.

Yet, there are some people who try to run from God.

In today's passage, we met one of them: Jonah. God told Jonah to go to the city of Ninevah--and Jonah didn't want to go, so he ran. In the process, he put lives at risks--the lives of other passengers on a ship to Tarshish, his own life and the lives of the people from Ninevah. Plus, he had to go through the drama of being thrown into a wild storm, swallowed by a fish, and living in the belly of a fish (eww...can't imagine how that smelled!) for three days.

Running from God? Not a good idea. Not even possible!

It's interesting to see how Jonah--and how many people (probably me, too, at times!) try to run from God. God sees everything! Throughout this story, it was clear God saw Jonah, but God also saw the people on the ship. He saw the people of Ninevah, even though their hearts were far from Him.

God LOVED all of these people, despite their failures. God saved Jonah with the big fish. God protected the people on the ship with Jonah. And God cared enough about the people of Ninevah to send Jonah to help them--and to make sure that Jonah delivered His message!

With all of these truths in mind, I'm going to end this post with a question: Why do we try to run from God, especially when God is the One always running toward us--with love?

Tomorrow: Micah