Verse of the week

'But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.' Jonah 1:3

Jonah is one of my favourite prophets just because he seems so real. Here's a guy who, when God told him to go and tell a big, powerful city called Ninevah that they were facing God's anger, said 'No, thanks, that doesn't sound like much fun - I think I'll go to Spain instead.' And so he tried to run away from God, tried to run away from obeying God.

Don't we do that all the time? Every day we say to God that we'd really rather not obey his call, we'd really rather have a nice time instead - we choose Spain instead of Ninevah. Think about where you are ignoring the will of God; think about who you should be telling about Jesus and salvation, but you're not because you'd rather have an easy life. In which areas of your life are you a Jonah?

The great news of the book of Jonah (and it is a cracking story) is that though we may run from God, he doesn't run from us. Jonah, of course, was prevented from running away by a storm and a big fish and an even bigger God. He went to Ninevah in the end and the people there turned to God. God's purposes will be achieved, and he will achieve them through the people he's chosen; but how much better it would have been for Jonah if he hadn't tried to run away, hadn't had to be disciplined like that by the LORD!

There are areas of all our lives where we are running away from doing God's will; we can expect to be disciplined in those areas. But we can also, wonderfully, know that God is a patient, forgiving Father who will bring us back to his way and, despite our Jonah-like muppet-ness, will still allow us to have a part in his plans for the salvation of men and women all over the world.