June 1, 2013 "But God..."

Read Jonah 1 – 2 “But God, You’ll Save Them!” Jonah 1:1-3 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. WHAT do you think? Isn’t it folly to “flee from the LORD”? How could anyone think that is possible, especially a prophet. Jonah has been around. He prophesied God would restore Israel’s boundaries, and it happened. Jonah has seen the LORD work. Yet, he runs away. As odd as it seems, that is exactly why he is running from God’s assignment. He knows full well that God is merciful and offers forgiveness when people repent and turn to the LORD. Jonah hates Ninevah, a city that has done great harm to Israel. He wants no part of “saving” Ninevah. So he goes the opposite way—literally. Tarshish is in modern day Spain. He wants to really get away! That’s often what we do when God says, “Come here.” We go “there” instead, don’t we? We prefer our own ways to listening to God’s ways. We pray for answers, but we don’t like it when God says, “Wait.” or “No.” or “You need to change, too.” Jonah wanted his own answers, his own way at his own time. But God would show Jonah how much he loved him, and even how much he loved Israel’s enemies. God is always about showing his love to you. Receive it and be glad. It’s True! God may be showing you to save someone you don’t like.