Running From The Sun - Part 1

“The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:

‘Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.’

But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.” Jonah 1: 1-3a NLT

          Jonah was on the run. God summoned him for a certain task, a particular role. He was to deliver a message of doom to Israel’s formidable archenemy and Jonah wanted nothing of it. Like a defiant child, he refused. Why? 

         Was Jonah afraid? Certainly there would be a significant level of danger for a lone prophet of God entering enemy territory and issuing a decree of destruction. Nineveh was located in the crux of the Assyrian Empire. At this time in history, the Assyrians were the single greatest threat to Israel’s civilization.

Could it be that Jonah felt this duty was beneath him? After all, did this pagan nation even deserve to receive a warning before their imminent demise? Their violence, cruelty and prostitution were famous and they seemed to possess no interest in God. Or maybe Jonah simply felt inadequate and that someone else was better suited for the task. 

Whatever his reasons were for running, does it even matter? The God of all Creation called him to do something and Jonah irreverently refused. This speaks volumes about his heart and disposition towards God.

Perhaps this was precisely the reason why God selected him, out of all the Hebrew men, to go on this journey to Nineveh. This unwelcome assignment was used by God to address the infantile, brooding nature of Jonah’s rebellious and petulant heart. Perhaps nothing else would have caused his insolence to float to the surface. Like gold being refined in fire, so too was Jonah’s sullied heart being purified. Maybe the people of Nineveh weren’t the only ones in need of redemption. 

What is your Nineveh? Do you believe that your Nineveh is a divine assignment from God, hand-picked especially for you? In regards to the story of Jonah, maybe the lesson isn’t so much about what happened in  Nineveh. Maybe the lesson is more about our response to Nineveh and what happens on the way to Nineveh. These are the things that interest God.