Jonah: When the Prophet Runs from the Word He Already Has
"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD." — Jonah 1:3 Not every crisis of guidance is a lack of information. Sometimes the Lord has already spoken, and we do not like the assignment. The most honest sentence some of us could write is not “I cannot find God’s will,” but “I have found it, and I am booking a fare the other way.” Jonah is the patron saint of the informed rebel. “Arise, go to Nineveh.” The word was plain. He went down to Joppa, down into the ship, down into sleep, down into the sea. Sin always has a downward grammar. He had theology enough to confess that he feared the Lord which hath made the sea and the dry land. He still ran. Knowledge without surrender is not guidance. It is indictment. God’s direction includes pursuit. He sent out a great wind. The lot fell upon Jonah. The fish was prepared. You cannot outrun the God who made the sea you are sailing. Psalm 139 asked the question Jonah tried to answer: whither shall I flee from...