Words of Inspiration - Who are you really running from?

Send us Fan Mail When you disobey God's call, you're not just avoiding the assignment—you're running from God Himself. You can't separate God from His will. You can't say, "I love God, but I refuse His mission." Rejecting His call is rejecting Him.

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  Welcome to The Bible Speaks with your host, Elgin Kerelock. The Bible Speaks is a daily podcast dedicated to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, and learning how to apply it to our daily lives. You may contact Elgin at the address given at the end of the broadcast, and now here's Elgin.

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  Brothers and sisters, I welcome you, in the name of our risen Savior, Jesus the Christ, to another edition of Words of Inspiration. This is our first episode in the Book of Jonah, and a continuation of our series, Studying the Bible Together. Today's episode is titled, "Who Are You Really Running From?", and we're exploring what happens when God calls us to assignments we don't like. Our scriptural text is Jonah, Chapter 1, Verse 3, and from the English Standard Version,

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  it reads, "But Jonah rose to flee the Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Japha and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord." Jonah heard God clearly. God told him to go to Nineveh and preach, but Jonah boarded a ship headed in the opposite direction. So today, what we're really running from when we disobey God? Let us pray.

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  Father God, forgive us for times when we've run from your call because we didn't like the assignment. Help us understand that part of our relationship with you is serving others, even those we don't wish to be saved. Show us what we're really running from, whether it's fear, vengefulness, or hard-heartedness. Teach us that we cannot outrun you and that your will shall be done, whether we cooperate willingly or learn through difficulty. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen. When God makes a request of you that you don't like, you can't simply turn and walk away.

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  Yet that's exactly what Jonah did. God said, "Go to Nineveh." Jonah went to Tarshish. God said, "East." Jonah went west. God said, "Preach," and Jonah fled. But notice, Jonah wasn't just running from Nineveh. The text says twice that he fled from the presence of the Lord. This reveals something crucial. When you disobey God's call, you're not just avoiding the assignment, you're running from God Himself. You can't separate God from His will. You can't say, "I love God, but I refuse His mission."

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  Rejecting His call is rejecting Him. Part of the relationship with God is serving others, even though we don't wish them to be saved. This is where Jonah struggled. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, Israel's brutal enemy.

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  They were known for unspeakable cruelty. Jonah wanted them judged, not saved. He would rather see them destroyed than redeemed. So instead of going to them, he avoided them. But here's the problem. God's heart is different from ours. 2 Peter 3 and 9 reads, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." God wanted even brutal Nineveh to repent, and he wanted to use Jonah to reach them.

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  You must embrace who God is in order to accomplish what he has assigned to your hands. If you can't embrace God's mercy toward your enemies, you can't fulfill his mission. If you can't accept his compassion for the undeserving, you'll keep running from assignments that require you to extend that compassion. Jonah chose to board a boat headed to the furthest distance he could think of from Nineveh. Tarsus was as far west as you can go. Possibly modern-day Spain. Jonah literally went to the opposite end of the known world. He put maximum distance between himself and God's call.

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  But that did not change God's requirement. Running didn't cancel the assignment. Distance didn't dissolve the call. Jonah's disobedience didn't alter God's plan for Nineveh. It just added lessons that would eventually lead to the fulfillment of God's will. The question wasn't if Jonah would go to Nineveh. It was how much he'd suffer before he went. Proverbs 19 and 21 declares, "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails."

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  You can make all the plans you want. You can run as far as you want. You can resist as long as you want. But it's God's purpose that will stand. His will shall be done. So, when you're not doing what God told you, what are you really running from? Is it fear? Are you afraid the assignment is too big, too dangerous, or too uncomfortable? 2 Timothy 1:7 reminds us, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Or is it vengefulness?

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  Like Jonah, do you want certain people judged rather than saved? Do you harbor bitterness that makes you hope for their destruction instead of their redemption? Vengefulness keeps us from being vessels of God's grace because we'd rather see judgment than mercy. And finally, is it heart-heartedness? Have you become so comfortable, so settled, so resistant to change, that you refuse assignments that would disrupt your life? Heart-heartedness says, "I've done my part. Someone else can go. I don't want to be inconvenienced."

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  Regardless of what it is, you can't outrun God. Psalm 139, verses 7 through 8, asks, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there." There's no ship fast enough, no distance far enough, no hiding place deep enough to escape God.

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  And His will shall be done. Not maybe, not if circumstances align. His will shall be done. The only question is whether you'll participate willingly, or learn through storms, fish, and detours, what could have been learned through simple obedience. So ask yourself, what assignment have I been running from? What has God called me to do that I've been avoiding? And most importantly, who am I really running from? Because when you run from God's call, you're running from God Himself.

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  And that's a race you'll never win. Heavenly Father, forgive us for running from assignments we don't like. Forgive us for trying to avoid serving people we'd rather see judged than saved. Help us embrace who You are, so we can accomplish what You've assigned to our hands. Show us what we are really running from, and deliver us from it. Teach us that we can outrun You, and that Your will shall be done, whether we cooperate or resist. Give us Jonah's eventual obedience without requiring His painful lessons. We surrender to Your call today.

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  In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I thank You for spending time with me on today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I look forward to our time together on Sunday. Until then, God bless.

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  The Bible Speaks is sponsored by C Squared Realty and New Gen Construction Group to help spread the gospel to the corners of the earth. If anything you've heard poured into your life, please share it with someone. You can find The Bible Speaks on Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, and many more. Follow us on YouTube at The Bible Speaks Online. You may contact Elgin at P O Box 5582, Ocala, Florida 34478, or by email at [email protected].