Jonah arose to flee

“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” - Jonah 1v3

How would any of us feel if God called us to a place like Mecca to preach the gospel? How about if God called us to preach at an major Al-Queda headquarters? I think many of us would choose the logical option – run away as fast as we could.

Jonah faced a similar situation. God called him to go and preach to Nineveh, the rich and powerful capital of the vast Assyrian Empire. The worshipped a fish god and the worship included human sacrifice and cruelty. Their enemies were simply tortured and killed. No wonder he ran.

Yet Jonah is going to learn a lesson we all need to learn – you can’t really run from God. That’s what the book of Jonah is all about and there are many lessons there for us, the first being we can’t run from Him.