The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. (Jonah 1:1–3, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “But Jonah…headed for Tarshish.” Which was about as far as he could get from Nineveh in the known civilized world at that time. This was no fork in the road with Jonah choosing the wrong fork because he did not consult the Lord. No, he was disobeying God’s express instructions. No gentle whisper in his “ears…saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it,'” (Isaiah 30:21, NIV 1984), that Jonah failed to pick up on. No, he heard loud and clear, and proceeded to “run,” not walk the opposite way.
My Advice – How many times have we said something like “if God would only tell me clearly what He wants me to do, I would do it.” Bold talk. Maybe we would, but not always. Perhaps a bit more infrequently than we might expect.
“Then Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’ Peter replied, ‘Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.’ ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’ But Peter declared, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’ And all the other disciples said the same.” (Matthew 26:31–35, NIV 1984).
The Lord was gracious to both Jonah and Peter. They were both given a second chance. But to obey in the first place is better by far. “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. ‘Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?” (Matthew 21:28–31, NIV 1984).
“What do [we] think?” Or better yet, which of the two sons do we want to be? Because this hypothetical parable is likely to play out more than a few times in our walk with Christ. When it does, let’s not head for Tarshish.
The Brew Is A Musing 