Summer At Sea: Week 7 Day 1

Jonah 1:1-4

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3 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. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

Where do you go when you are trying to get away from life, a task, or a certain person? I know I will go for a walk in a pretty wooded area when I am trying to avoid life in general or need space from someone. I will even fly to my family in the Carolinas when I just need a break from life up in Michigan. 

In these verses, Jonah avoids God’s word so much that he tries to flee a place that was about 2,500 miles west of where he needed to be. God commanded him to go to Nineveh (which would be Iraq), but he went to Tarshish (which would be somewhere around Spain). Talk about avoidance!! 

I find it so interesting that Jonah was trying to “flee” from the Lord when we obviously know that it is impossible to do. God is with us always and knows our fears, concerns, and feelings. He was with Jonah and the men during the storm, too, and he is with us during our greatest storms. Try to have the Lord be your first “go to” during each storm and see if that helps to calm the situation.