And the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, up! Go to Nineveh, that great town, and let your voice come to it; for their evil-doing has come up before me. And Jonah got up to go in flight to Tarshish, away from the Lord; and he went down to Joppa, and saw there a ship going to Tarshish: so he gave them the price of the journey and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the Lord. And the Lord sent out a great wind on to the sea and there was a violent storm in the sea, so that the ship seemed in danger of being broken. Jonah 1:1-4
Jonah served as a prophet to Israel and Assyria from 793-753 B.C. and his contemporary prophets were Joel (853-796?) and Amos (760-750). God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. Nineveh was the most important city in Assyria. Nineveh was a powerful and wicked city. Jonah had grown up hating the Assyrians and fearing their atrocities. In fact, many of Jonah’s countrymen had experienced the violence of these fierce people.
Jonah, who hated the powerful and wicked Assyrians, was called by God to warn the Assyrians that they would receive judgment, if they did not repent. Although Jonah knew that God had a specific job for him, but he didn’t want to do it. His hatred was so strong that he didn’t want them to receive God’s mercy. Jonah was also afraid the people would repent (Jnh 4:2, 3). Jonah’s attitude is representative of Israel’s and some believers’ reluctance to share God’s love and mercy with others, even though this was their God-given mission. They, like Jonah, did not want non-Jews (Gentiles) to obtain God’s favour.
Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh, so he tried to run from God. The last place he wanted to go on a missionary trip was to Nineveh! So, he went in the opposite direction. He boarded a ship in Joppa that was headed for Tarshish. Jonah decided to go as far west as he could. When God gives us directions through His Word, sometimes we run in fear or in stubbornness, thinking that God is asking too much. It may have been fear, or anger at the vastness of God’s mercy, that made Jonah run. But running got him into worse trouble.
We have a great responsibility to obey God’s Word because our sin and disobedience can hurt others around us. While the storm raged, Jonah was sound asleep below deck. Even as he ran from God, Jonah’s actions apparently didn’t bother his conscience. Jonah’s disobedience to God endangered the lives of the ship’s crew. We have a great responsibility to obey God’s Word because our sin and disobedience can hurt others around us. While the storm raged, Jonah was sound asleep below deck. Even as he ran from God, Jonah’s actions apparently didn’t bother his conscience.
In the end, Jonah understood that it is best to do what God asked in the first place. But by then, he had paid a costly price for running. It is far better to obey from the start because Jonah could not run from God. You cannot hide or run from God. You cannot seek God’s love and run from Him at the same time. • Prophet (Dr.) Abiara is General Evangelist, CAC Worldwide
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