Jonah was a prophet on the run from the Lord. When the command came to preach to Ninevah, he “rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” In the port city of Joppa, conveniently, he “found a ship going to Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3).
You can imagine how a man in Jonah’s shoes might justify this in his heart: “See? If I’d been supposed to go east, there wouldn’t be this ship here ready to take me west. And I’m sure that I’m really supposed to go on the ship, because after all, there’s a ship here, and I want to go on a ship. It’s an open door if there ever was one!”
But an open door isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. “The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction,” said Jesus, “and those who enter by it are many” (Matt. 7:13). When we’re ready to run from the Lord, the devil will be sure to send a car. When we’re itching to satisfy sinful desires, we’re certain to find abundant temptations.
The surest measure of God’s will is not what is convenient; it’s what is written. We should never go through an open door to a place God’s Word tells us clearly not to go.
The truth is, when we want to run, we won’t need an excuse. The Lord will speak clearly about some issue in our lives through the Bible, through our brothers and sisters in Christ, or through His gentle hand on the conscience. We will say, “No. That can’t be right. It must not mean what it says.” And we’ll run.
The surest measure of God’s will is not what is convenient; it’s what is written.
This is, of course, what Adam and Eve thought they would do. As soon as they fouled up, they said, “Let’s go run and hide in the trees.” But God didn’t give up on them. He asked, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). He knew where they were. But He wanted them to answer.
Jonah, in his attempt to get as far away as possible, was prepared to take anything to get anywhere. But it didn’t turn out to be so simple. And even though it may at times seem easy for us to run, the whole thing tends to go haywire. We will either find ourselves somewhere we hadn’t counted on, or we’ll soon see that our faithful God is pressing His pursuit. The transportation He later sent to bring Jonah back on track didn’t have a plush interior. We’re better off obeying the first time.
This article was adapted from the sermon “The Man Who Said No” by Alistair Begg.