Running Away from God - Jonah 1 : 1-17

When I think of Whales the first image that comes to mind is Shamoo. The second is the whale scene in Disney’s Pinocchio. And the third is Jonah. There is just something about the story of Jonah that I can connect to in a way unlike the raging whale attack in Pinocchio or the gentleness of Sea World. I get Jonah. Because I have been Jonah. And isn’t that true of all of us - at one time or another we have ran from the call of God?

We aren’t quite told how the call of God came to Jonah. Perhaps it was a gentle whisper, a dream, a vision, an audible voice, or maybe an inner leading. But Jonah knows that it is the unmistakably the voice and call of God because what it was telling him to do was quite unwelcome. Not anything that he would pick for himself. 

The call was to go at once to the great city of Nianevah that had been sinning in the face of God and cry out against it. Essentially Jonah was being told to go to a city where he would not be welcomed and preach a message that no one would want to hear. 

Jonah didn’t argue with God’s call. He didn’t try to negotiate. In fact, he didn’t verbally respond at all. But his actions spoke loud and clear what he felt. He fled. The complete opposite direction. 

Oh friends, how many of us can identify with Jonah at this point in the story. You’ve had this inkling that you were supposed to do something for God. A vision. A nudge. But it felt extremely uncomfortable, or inconvenient, or you thought demanded too much of a sacrifice. So you ran. You may not have called it running. Maybe you just tried to rationalize that it couldn’t be the voice of God. Or that you needed to be more sure before acting. Whatever the case, it was running from the call. Running for the One who calls.

One of the questions that I often get asked is to talk about my call story. When did I know I was called to be a pastor. Was this something I always wanted to do? Each time the question is asked I cannot help but chuckle a little. I never wanted to be a pastor when I was younger. In fact, I went to college to be a doctor. But after a semester in that particular track, I decided it wasn’t for me. So I started searching. Searching for a new life purpose. And along the way it was brought up that I should consider being a pastor. Others recognized the call in me. But it was the absolute last thing I wanted to do.

I ran. I grew up in the church. I had seen the ugly side of church drama. I wanted to just be a person who sat in a pew on Sunday, thank you very much. But the call was there. I recognized it too. I just didn’t want to believe it. I continued to pursue another path - studying to go into child psychology until my junior year of college when I was looking at grad schools. As I stood in the dissertation room of a well known school, I caved into the relentless calling of the Spirit. I knew that I was to follow the call to serve the local church. I stopped running.

Brothers and sisters, we are all called by God. Called to serve God. Maybe not as a pastor or a missionary overseas, but its still a call. Maybe your call is to lead Sunday School. Start a small group. Form a relationship with someone who doesn’t yet know about Christ. The calls of God are endless. And we all run from them one way or another. Usually in ways less noticeable than Jonah. By not having our heart in it. By not stepping out in faith. By not being fully engaged in the ministry of God. By staying in our comfort zone. By not going in all the way. And sometimes even running the opposite direction.

But like Jonah we are destined to learn the truth of the God we love. We cannot run away from him. Jonah knew that he couldn’t really flee from God. In fact, when the crew of the ship asked him who his God was, Jonah claimed that his God was over the sea and the dry land. Where could Jonah really go? Where can we really go?

Then the crew of the ship do something interesting. They go through questions, and casting lots (which was essentially be like playing a game or spinning a wheel to determine the will of God) and finally determine that Jonah is the cause behind the storm. Jonah’s God is mad at him. But goodness, they should have known that friends. They knew that Jonah was fleeing from God because he told them. They just didn’t really grasp what that means.

If we search hard enough we will find people to go along with our disobedience. People that will tell us that its okay to run from unpleasant situations, or back us up when we say that we aren’t quite sure if this is the call of God for us, so we will just wait it out. Or ignore it. It’s not hard to find people who will be complicit with our sin. People who will harbor us from the will of God or help us run the opposite direction. But that doesn’t make it right. And it doesn’t mean that the storms won’t come. 

The crew tried everything they could think of before giving in and throwing Jonah overboard, treating him like a piece of cargo that had already been discarded instead of the prophet of God he was. But then something happens. The storm stops. And the crew falls before Jonah’s God making sacrifices and vows. These men who just a few verses before were crying out to their own God came to see the power of the God Jonah worshiped. Even Jonah’s disobedience was used to give God glory. This is not to say that we should run from God so that God will be glorified. Rather its pointing out that God will be glorified, and we have the choice to be part of that or not. Do we want our sin to point to God or our trust and obedience?

At the end of the day, I think we understand Jonah because his fear resonates with us. The fear of the call. The fear of the unknown. So we choose to run away, instead of following God into freedom. We flee instead of listening to God. 

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a call story where the person being called by God responded willingly the first time. But as the story of Jonah show us, God will not be ignored. God is relentless in pursuing us. And God just won’t let us shrink away from the call that was specifically designed for us. 

We like to kid ourselves into thinking that if we don’t respond to the call of God then someone else will just do it for us. But its your call. No one can do it the same way you can because God made it for you. God wants you. If Jonah didn’t go, how would the Ninevites get the message? The only way to deliver it was through another person. And God selected Jonah. But Jonah let fear trump calling. 

Brothers and sisters, stop running. Stop seeking out people to make us feel better about our disobedience. Stop pretending that someone else could do it just as well. Stop being disobedient. Stop. Its your call. Its your time. How are you going to respond? Amen.