Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah 1:1-3
Jonah was asked by the Lord to go Nineveh and cry out against their wickedness. Jonah did it diametrically different by taking a ship to Tarshish which was in the opposite direction of Nineveh.
Tarshish was the name of a Phoenician port in current Spain which is the West of Israel, and Nineveh would have been East of Israel in the current nation of Iraq. The port of Spain would have been as far West he could have gone at the time. The continent of America had yet to have been discovered by Europeans at the time.
Basically, Jonah was trying to avoid God and His request by running from His assignment as far away as he could. Jonah was a successful prophet as it is mentioned in 2Kings 14:25. The scripture tells us that he was giving the word of the Lord and providing direction to King Jeroboam II. However, he didn’t want to go to Nineveh and preach repentance because the Assyrians were wicked , so he tried to flee from the presence of the Lord!!
God’s call and assignment on Jonah’s life was given to him to be stewarded but not owned. Jonah, regardless of his success or years of walking with God, could not decide which assignments from God he liked and which ones he didn’t.
The same is true for us. We may have been praying for our neighbor’s salvation or for family members for years, and wondering why God hasn’t responded. While God may have been asking us to reach out to our coworker and help them, and we don’t want to do it. We think, our coworker already looks successful, and if they had the Lord like we did, then they would even be more successful. At least now, there is one thing that is negative about them. If they had the Lord, they could be too popular!!
We can’t only pray or go to the people we want to see saved or changed for the glory of God. We must be willing to go to the ones whom we don’t like or even those that intimidate us.
When you look at the early church, they had every reason to reject Saul, but they took the risk of opening their lives and hearts to this man who became Paul. If they hadn’t, they could have rejected all the work that God had purposed through him. Paul was a huge blessing to the early church as well as the body of Christ for the last two thousand years.
Who is in your life that you need to open your heart to and allow God to accomplish His purpose in their lives as well as yours?
While sailing far away from Nineveh, the Lord sends out a great wind and Jonah eventually had to confess to people that it is because of him that the ship is in trouble. People were afraid of keeping Jonah, but they were also afraid of throwing the man of God into the water.
When we are in disobedience to the Lord, not only we cause trouble for ourselves, but we also put other people in vicarious position. People may be impressed by who we are and what we do; but, the question is, “Are we doing what the Lord is asking us to do, or are we doing what we want to do?”
You may be a great teacher of the Word of God or a great organizer, but your spouse has been asking you to spend more time with the family. He/she is saying to you, “Our own house needs better organization.”. Do you consider this unimportant because you’re helping a ministry or have an important corporate job? When your children are listening to your conversations, what do they make out it? Are your spouse’s words not that important to you because he/she is not in ministry or may not hear God well!!? Most likely our spouses or our children would not dishonor us before others or complain about us, but the fact may remain that they are still not happy with the current conditions.
If we put the Lord first, He will show us how to prioritize our lives on this earth, so we can glorify His name and honor and value our loved ones and others. Ask your family if they feel valued and important to you. Or do they need to compete for your attention because you have other priorities?