Fleeing from God's Presence
I make dumb decisions sometimes. It is often because I get in a hurry, and I don't think things through very well before I act. I can see how people can unintentionally choose to do the wrong thing for various reasons. However, the thing that really baffles me is to see people intentionally do something that they should know is the wrong thing to do. It makes me wonder about their thought process in making that choice. Why do people do things that are obviously bad for them?
Jonah was a prophet of God. He knew the Lord, yet he intentionally chose to flee from the presence of the Lord when God called him to go to Nineveh. He got on a ship going the opposite direction, so God sent a storm. (Jonah 1:10) The pagan men on the ship were exceedingly afraid of the storm, and they asked him why he had fled from the presence of the Lord, after he had told them what he was doing. The pagans would not even have done what the prophet of God was doing. So we need to ask ourselves, "Why do people flee from the presence of the Lord?"
Jonah was prejudiced against the Ninevites, so he did not want to go near to them and preach to them, even though he knew God had commanded him to do that. Instead of obeying God, Jonah fled from God's presence. He did not want to hear from God, and He did not want to do His will. He thought he could get away from God's presence. Of course, it didn't work, but he should have known better than to do it in the first place. The presence of God is the best place to be in the universe. To run from His presence is the worst thing anyone can do.
However, there are many people fleeing from God's presence right now. They have fled from going to church. They don't want to hear from God because they have been hurt, and He may ask them to forgive, instead of holding a grudge. Others know what His Word says, and they don't want to do it, so they flee from reading the Bible and praying. This even happens to Christians. They run from God, but they can't hide. There will be a storm or something to make them think. Then, they have a chance to get close to God and obey Him. If they don't obey, they miss out on the abundant life. I pray that will not happen to any of us.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read Jonah 3-4 and Micah 1.