Scripture Daily

Context No. 3729 of 4322 · Jonah

Context · Reflection

Jonah 1:1-6: in context

1Now the LORD’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.” 3But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up. 5Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship and he was laying down, and was fast asleep. 6So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”

God calls Jonah to go and preach to Nineveh, and Jonah does the very opposite: he rises to flee to Tarshish, in the other direction, away from the presence of the LORD. It is a striking picture of running from God's call. But no one can flee from God.

The LORD sends a great storm, and while the pagan sailors cry out desperately, each to his own god, Jonah lies fast asleep below deck, and it is a pagan captain who has to wake him: what do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call on your God! There is a sharp irony and a warning here. Jonah, the prophet of the true God, is asleep and silent in the crisis, while the pagans pray; the one who should have been calling on God had to be roused by an unbeliever. When we run from God's call, we can end up spiritually asleep, useless in the very moment others need us, put to shame by those who seem further from God than we are. Fleeing God's call leads not to peace but to storm and to a deadened conscience.

Am I running from something God has clearly called me to, and has that flight left me spiritually asleep, needing to be roused to call on God again?

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