Rebellious Runaways and Relentless Returns
A few summers ago, in the midst of deep grief and loss, I had hit my breaking point and took an impromptu trip to Orlando to not only visit my friends, but in honesty, to run away from my present circumstances, get some distance, and escape from the things God was calling me to do. After a quick look on other youth runaways, I am appalled and heartbroken over the statistics and testimonies of so many millions of young children who run away from home to escape physical or emotional abuse, school problems, peer pressure, family conflicts or drugs and alcohol. Most runaways are not running towards a specific new situation but rather are running away from existing problems. This is such a parallel to the prophet Jonah who was called to Nineveh but instead “ran away from the Lord”. Here are a few of the major truths the Lord impressed upon my heart through my own runaway season and the lessons He instilled in me using the rebellious runaway Jonah. We learn what happens when we follow our rebellious heart and how to course correct back to God’s best for our lives.
Running away will not fix your problems.
Running away didn’t make Jonah’s life any easier; it didn’t change his perspective on his situation or fix his heart towards the Ninevites. Running away had no impact on Nineveh at all. In fact, because of his disobedience by running away, he endured even further hardship. When we run from God we become our own worst enemy. In the midst of our rebellion, we can lose sight of God’s goodness and start to think we know better.
Running away from your call, your purpose, and even your passions, will always push you further away from Jesus. Fortunately, God is so in love with us that He’ll even send us directly into the belly of a fish, if necessary, in order to bring us closer to Himself. Escaping the situation, isolating yourself from fellowship with others, wallowing in the sea of self-pity and depression, or alienating yourself from the loving hands of the Father will only highlight and magnify your loneliness, your depravity, your aimlessness, and your brokenness.
God is always with me.
When you’re in those low valleys, it can feel like you are stuck in a pit or like life just hasn’t gone your way. Looking to Jonah, we can learn from his prayer to God when he himself was in a pit and a definite low point...like the bottom of the ocean low. The good news from Jonah: there is always a way out because God is always with you. From rock bottom, inside the fish, in his distress, he called to the Lord and God answered him (2:1). How can we have that same confidence to pray out to the Lord in our lowest valleys? Jonah knows God is right there. He isn’t distant, He’s not far away; He isn't pushing Jonah off. He is right there.
God hears your prayers from the pit. No matter what your pit is called, no matter how low it is, no matter what you’ve done to get yourself into it, no matter what someone else did to get you into it, wherever you are in life, however low rock bottom is for you, God hears your prayers from that very moment. You may not be experiencing His best right now and that might mean you are frustrated with God and may not even be speaking to Him or thinking about Him right now, but He is right there. You can run from God, but you can’t outrun God. He is with you. There is no way you can ever end up alone. I don’t know what rushing waters or rising temperatures that’s creating pressure in your pit right now, your best option is the good God that is always with you.
I know God is determined to use me.
I am amazed that God used Jonah the way that He did. I’m amazed that God can use some of the people He has used. I’m amazed that God can use me. God could have chosen anybody else, could’ve raised up another prophet, could’ve revealed Himself in another way to the Ninevites. He could have used someone more merciful, more gentle, and more tenderhearted like Jeremiah, Nehemiah, or Elijah. He could always choose to use somebody else, but just as stubborn, reluctant, and rebellious as Jonah was, God was even more relentless and determined to see revival through Jonah. God spoke to Jonah “a second time” (3:1) giving him another opportunity for redemption. Despite his disobedience, God continues to use Jonah to lead one of the greatest revivals the world has ever seen. He uses us despite our past. God is a God of second chances. You are not damaged goods. You have not messed up too much. Your past is a platform for His grace. Simply surrender your story to Him.
Even though we run, He pursues after us with great passion to use us for His mighty purposes and glory. Jonah knew the pit itself was God changing the situation that very moment. That very place he felt stuck was actually moving him back into the plan of God. Jonah, in this fish, is being transported back to the original purpose of God for his life. Jonah is being taken back to the place God told him to go in the first place. That very moment, in that pit, when you feel like you’re being punished, but God is actually in pursuit. We may feel like He’s judging us, but that’s nowhere on His mind. He’s pursuing us back. What God has done for Jonah is take what is random and seemingly meaningless and use that very situation to get him into the situation he was always supposed to be. The pit becomes the plan.
I may not know the fruit of my ministry.
The greatest miracle in the book of Jonah is not that he got swallowed by a giant fish, but the powerful six words “the people of Nineveh believed God” (3:5). Because of Jonah’s rather unimpressive sermon about God’s impending judgment, the Ninevites repented in the greatest revival recorded in Scripture. Jonah was willing to share an uncomfortable message as God was doing something supernatural in the hearts of His people. God does the work. We are simply His vessels of truth that He chooses to use so we can be partakers of the miraculous.
The book of Jonah finishes with the Lord using an analogy of a withered vine as a God inspired parable to convict Jonah, but we don’t know his response. The book ends with quite the cliffhanger. We don’t know what more God had planned to do through Jonah next. After the revival, was Jonah called to continue preaching, continue discipling those new converts? Was he supposed to be the new believers pastor providing the much needed foundation? Did seeing this revival finally give Jonah a new perspective? Did seeing the fruit of his ministry eventually bring him to his knees in gratitude and worship? Did it change his heart and ways? The Bible does not give us this insight. It leaves us with unknowns. I, too, don’t always know what God is doing in my life. I don’t need to know what God is doing, I simply need to live a life of obedience and keep going! I need to press on, finish my race, and surrender anything and everything to Him!
The cause is Christ!
Unfortunately, we don’t know Jonah’s outcome, though we know Nineveh’s judgment was further delayed 150 years later (see sequel in the book of Nahum). Likewise, I don’t know the ways I’m being used to encourage others, the ways I’m preaching the gospel by my life, or delaying judgment for someone. You don’t know that by sending that simple encouraging text or worship song, you have just made that young man’s day. You don’t know that sitting next to that teenage girl at church made her feel welcomed and loved .You don’t know that by thanking your pastor for Sunday’s message, you kept him from quitting. You don’t know that by answering the door to a woman’s despair, you literally saved her from taking her own life. We don’t know the fruit of our ministry, but we do not need to know. That must never stop us. We must continue ministering anyways and continue passionately serving even if it appears useless, wasteful, and worrisome because nothing done with God is ever wasted. I may not know the influence of my ministry, but I know the cause is Christ!
From Jonah’s example, we can see that Jonah was willing to share God’s truth even when it is uncomfortable. We are to confront people with the truth, but our message today is far more welcoming that Jonah’s. We are to share Jesus’ redeeming and beautiful love and grace. Regardless of his circumstances, emotions, or his rebellion, the cause was constant: Jonah was called to preach repentance. He was called to be the oracle, the vessel, the hands and feet of Jesus, the prophet in which God would use to bring forth a major revival to an otherwise wretched, lost city perishing without God. My call–-your call—is exactly the same. The cause of Christ is timeless. The cause is Christ! That has not changed. This will not change. There are still people, loved ones, that still desperately need to hear the gospel, need to hear the truth of repentance, and need to know the purpose and passion of Jesus Christ! Wake up, oh sleeper, the cause is Christ!
What are you going to give your life to? What is your cause?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hannah is a twenty-something Tucson native saved by the overwhelming grace of Christ. She is currently a university instructor while also pursuing her graduate degree in higher education leadership. Hannah loves country music, camping and hiking, binge watching Gilmore Girls and traveling on spontaneous road trips. Her favorite days consist of a great cup of coffee, a good book, and enjoying monsoon thunderstorms. She longs to see young women thrive in their relationship with Jesus, knowing He always has immeasurably more in store for us.