You Can’t Outrun God’s Presence
Did you ever experience a year you look back on as the hardest year of your life? Whatever the circumstances you encountered were, it was a year you wouldn’t want to relive. In the midst of situations like that, we sometimes find ourselves questioning God. Asking Him, what’s next?
Then God answers, but it isn’t the one you were looking for. Sometimes we run from what God is putting on our hearts. And no one is a better example of running from God than Jonah.
Going back to Jonah and the whale, this was one of the few periods in the life of God’s people where there was prosperity. Territory was expanding, and the economy was booming. It was a time of abundance. So, when Jonah gets the message from God to go to Nineveh, he knows exactly what that means. God was going to destabilize his comfort.
Jonah, wanting to protect his nationality, prosperity, and comfort, runs from God.
Jonah 1
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”
7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Many of us hear the story of Jonah and might think it’s a missionary call, but it really isn’t. The Book of Jonah is about sin. As modern people, we feel like something is wrong with us, but we have no adequate way to do anything about it.
Through the story of Jonah, there’s a magnitude of sin, but it was the kind of sin that was in his heart. It was a heart sin and issue, even though on the surface, Jonah was a prophet, preacher, and distinguished moral religious leader. So, the real sin in his life flew under the radar, and it didn’t show up until it blew up.
The Word of The Lord
Jonah’s calling and purpose are specific for him. He’s called to be a prophet of God, someone who speaks for God and acts on God’s behalf. And you can’t do that unless your life is oriented toward what God has called you to.
Now that said, you also have the right to run away. Imagine taking a feather and trying to use it as a hammer. It sounds silly, but the point is that’s not a feather’s purpose. We have to remember that the reality we are living in right now is not our ultimate reality. It’s not the world or eternity you were designed for. This is only the audition.
The Word of the Lord is the word of your design, your purpose, and what created the heavens and earth. You have a calling, a design, and a purpose. So the question you need to ask yourself is: Have you found your true identity in God's purpose and calling?
What Happens When We Run
Jonah ran the other way to create his own new identity, a new identity apart from God. Jonah wasn’t just being disobedient, he was breaking the law, the rules, and God’s heart.
God created you uniquely and wonderfully, but then the despair of living your life, trying to find yourself and be yourself apart from God leads to nothing more than despair, but in the moment, it’s hard for us to stay. We try to convince ourselves that God is leading us in another direction, or we run, just like Jonah.
But like Jonah, we eventually learn we can’t outrun God's presence.
Jonah was building his identity, life, and heart apart from God. So, Jonah wasn’t outrunning God's presence because we can’t do that, he was running from the face of God. He’s running from the presence, relationship, and surrender.
When Moses met God face to face, he never had to return again to the burning bush because God’s presence went with him. And face-to-face with God is really what the story of Jonah is about. If we haven’t centered our attention on God, His heart for us, His will for us, His Word for us, we can’t get face-to-face with Him.
When you get face to face with God, you’re basically telling God that you will center and define your life according to Him.
Many of us have mortgaged ourselves just to get a sense of self. We’ve mortgaged ourselves to our careers, reputation, romances, friendships, sports – He will never affirm or approve, but He especially will never resource your idolatry.
We see through the Book of Jonah that he needs transformation, not simply rehabilitation.
So, what does God do? He sends a storm. He sends a fish. It sounds awful because it could’ve led to a lot of destruction, but the worst thing that could ever happen to you is if God stops chasing you and lets you do what you want to do.
This storm is the grace of God. This storm is the salvation of God. Up until this point, Jonah has decided he knows better than God. He’s not afraid to go to Nineveh because that might kill him or they might not repent, he’s afraid they will repent because that will destroy his nation.
There’s a place that love has that nobody else can have. And that’s what God has been doing in your life. That’s what the storms are really about. We’re so stubborn, resistant, and controlling in so many ways that we need more than reformation, we need transformation. We need God's love and grace to become the driver of our hearts.
Every time the storm happens in most of our lives, we ask God, “Why are you letting this happen?” But if you’re really going to advance in God, you’ll realize that whatever in His power He could prevent, in His wisdom He has permitted. Whatever in His power He could have prevented, in His wisdom, He has permitted.
Trusting Him when we don’t understand is hard.
Finally, when the story was raging, Jonah says, “Throw me in!”
Jonah really will only drown if he keeps on running. He’s expecting sacrifice, but instead of sacrifice, he receives forgiveness. Jesus comes back hundreds of years later and explains.
While God sent a fish to wait for Jonah, God also sent grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Even when Jonah threw himself into the storm, God waited for him with the provision he needed.
But Jonah received forgiveness because Jesus threw himself into the storm for him. He consumed all of God’s wrath. Jonah found grace in the belly of the fish. Jesus drowned for Jonah.
When you receive what Jesus did for you and reorder your life according to His love, plan, grace, and mercy, only then will you have identity transformation. It’s not something you achieve, it’s something you receive.
Then God answers, but it isn’t the one you were looking for. Sometimes we run from what God is putting on our hearts. And no one is a better example of running from God than Jonah.
Going back to Jonah and the whale, this was one of the few periods in the life of God’s people where there was prosperity. Territory was expanding, and the economy was booming. It was a time of abundance. So, when Jonah gets the message from God to go to Nineveh, he knows exactly what that means. God was going to destabilize his comfort.
Jonah, wanting to protect his nationality, prosperity, and comfort, runs from God.
Jonah 1
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”
7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Many of us hear the story of Jonah and might think it’s a missionary call, but it really isn’t. The Book of Jonah is about sin. As modern people, we feel like something is wrong with us, but we have no adequate way to do anything about it.
Through the story of Jonah, there’s a magnitude of sin, but it was the kind of sin that was in his heart. It was a heart sin and issue, even though on the surface, Jonah was a prophet, preacher, and distinguished moral religious leader. So, the real sin in his life flew under the radar, and it didn’t show up until it blew up.
The Word of The Lord
Jonah’s calling and purpose are specific for him. He’s called to be a prophet of God, someone who speaks for God and acts on God’s behalf. And you can’t do that unless your life is oriented toward what God has called you to.
Now that said, you also have the right to run away. Imagine taking a feather and trying to use it as a hammer. It sounds silly, but the point is that’s not a feather’s purpose. We have to remember that the reality we are living in right now is not our ultimate reality. It’s not the world or eternity you were designed for. This is only the audition.
The Word of the Lord is the word of your design, your purpose, and what created the heavens and earth. You have a calling, a design, and a purpose. So the question you need to ask yourself is: Have you found your true identity in God's purpose and calling?
What Happens When We Run
Jonah ran the other way to create his own new identity, a new identity apart from God. Jonah wasn’t just being disobedient, he was breaking the law, the rules, and God’s heart.
God created you uniquely and wonderfully, but then the despair of living your life, trying to find yourself and be yourself apart from God leads to nothing more than despair, but in the moment, it’s hard for us to stay. We try to convince ourselves that God is leading us in another direction, or we run, just like Jonah.
But like Jonah, we eventually learn we can’t outrun God's presence.
Jonah was building his identity, life, and heart apart from God. So, Jonah wasn’t outrunning God's presence because we can’t do that, he was running from the face of God. He’s running from the presence, relationship, and surrender.
When Moses met God face to face, he never had to return again to the burning bush because God’s presence went with him. And face-to-face with God is really what the story of Jonah is about. If we haven’t centered our attention on God, His heart for us, His will for us, His Word for us, we can’t get face-to-face with Him.
When you get face to face with God, you’re basically telling God that you will center and define your life according to Him.
Many of us have mortgaged ourselves just to get a sense of self. We’ve mortgaged ourselves to our careers, reputation, romances, friendships, sports – He will never affirm or approve, but He especially will never resource your idolatry.
We see through the Book of Jonah that he needs transformation, not simply rehabilitation.
So, what does God do? He sends a storm. He sends a fish. It sounds awful because it could’ve led to a lot of destruction, but the worst thing that could ever happen to you is if God stops chasing you and lets you do what you want to do.
This storm is the grace of God. This storm is the salvation of God. Up until this point, Jonah has decided he knows better than God. He’s not afraid to go to Nineveh because that might kill him or they might not repent, he’s afraid they will repent because that will destroy his nation.
There’s a place that love has that nobody else can have. And that’s what God has been doing in your life. That’s what the storms are really about. We’re so stubborn, resistant, and controlling in so many ways that we need more than reformation, we need transformation. We need God's love and grace to become the driver of our hearts.
Every time the storm happens in most of our lives, we ask God, “Why are you letting this happen?” But if you’re really going to advance in God, you’ll realize that whatever in His power He could prevent, in His wisdom He has permitted. Whatever in His power He could have prevented, in His wisdom, He has permitted.
Trusting Him when we don’t understand is hard.
Finally, when the story was raging, Jonah says, “Throw me in!”
Jonah really will only drown if he keeps on running. He’s expecting sacrifice, but instead of sacrifice, he receives forgiveness. Jesus comes back hundreds of years later and explains.
While God sent a fish to wait for Jonah, God also sent grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Even when Jonah threw himself into the storm, God waited for him with the provision he needed.
But Jonah received forgiveness because Jesus threw himself into the storm for him. He consumed all of God’s wrath. Jonah found grace in the belly of the fish. Jesus drowned for Jonah.
When you receive what Jesus did for you and reorder your life according to His love, plan, grace, and mercy, only then will you have identity transformation. It’s not something you achieve, it’s something you receive.
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