The Runaway Part 4

The Runaway Part 4

Anthony Connington

Focus: Mercy Triumphs Over Judgement

• Jonah’s Anger

• Justice and Compassion

• Word of Love

Part 1: Jonah’s Anger

Jonah 4:1-4

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

Why was Jonah so angry?

To answer this question we need to examine the Hebrew word for “evil” (raah). This word is used 9x throughout the book and it connects the beginning and end like links in a chain. 

Chain Link of Hebrew word for evil (raah) 

Jonah 1:2–People of Nineveh have done evil (raah).

Jonah 1:7&8–Fishermen accuse Jonah of bringing evil (raah) to them.

Jonah 3:8–King commands everyone to turn from their evil (raah) ways.

Jonah 3:10a—God saw what Nineveh did and how the people turned from their evil (raah) way. 

Jonah 3:10b—God then relented of the evil (raah) that He had planned to bring upon them.

Jonah 4:1–Jonah felt a terrible evil (raah).

Jonah 4:2–God relenting from doing evil (raah) to the people.

Why did Jonah run away?

Jonah was angry with God because he knew that God would forgive the Nineveites when they repented. Jonah felt that was not just and that Nineveh deserved to be punished. 

There is another connection here. What does Jonah say back to God?

This is a quote from the Old Testament found in Exodus 34:6

Exodus 34:4-8 ESV

So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 

What about this passage is different from what Jonah said back to God?

Jonah changes the Exodus passage and takes out the word “faithfulness” or “truth” and replaces it with God “renouncing evil”.

Do you see what Jonah did? He intentionally changed God’s own self-disclosure and then used his own version of who he thought God should be as ammunition to be shot back as an accusation towards God. 

Jonah had shortened his understanding of what God had spoken and in turn could not see how compassion and justice really meet in the person of God. 

A compassionate and gracious God, slow to answer and abounding in kindness

These words in the mind of Jonah have become a great source of terrible evil. But why??

Justice of God: tell the story of police pulling people over and how that justice makes us feel. 

To answer that question we have to first look at the very first verse, who is Jonah? 

• Jonah is the son of Amittai (Emmitt) hebrew for the “son of truth”

• Jonah just “happens” to leave that one word out of God's own self disclosure of himself to us, he intentionally replaced the word truth with judgment.

• Jonah expected God to bring Justice in the form of Judgement not in the form of Compassion.

How can you say you are the God of truth and faithfulness when you change your mind about doing evil (raah)? How can you change the natural consequences of their choices and let them get off scot free? Where is the Justice in that?

Jonah’s complaint toward God was that God changes His mind about doing evil, or bringing judgment to those who deserve it. 

So Jonah waits and watches to see what God would do?

Part 2: Justice and Compassion

Jonah 4:5-9

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 

Let me ask you a question: What was the purpose of this plant?

The final link in the chain of evil (raah).

Jonah 4:6–The plant is there to save Jonah from his (raah) evil.

The plant wasn't just there to be a source of shade. The plant was an experience designed by God to provide a spiritual deliverance.

Jonah’s problem is not just his hatred towards Nineveh. It goes much deeper than that. His real problem was his hatred towards God.

See what Jonah was feeling…How can a God of Justice let these people just get away with all their evil. How dare you God sweep their offenses under the rug. Jonah can not live in a world where the judge of the universe lets the guilty go free. It is better that I just die. Jonah doesn't want to live in a world without justice. 

But what God was teaching Jonah is that he can not live in a world without compassion. 

Why was Jonah so happy about this plant?

The plant is a pure expression of love and compassion. It was there just because God loved Jonah.

The worm is an expression of justice and the consequences of the natural world playing out. 

The worm kills the plant because the plant does not have a seed. There are no roots. The plant does not belong so justice says it must be destroyed. 

Justice says when something doesn't have the right to be here it must go away.

What was so upsetting about the plant when it died?

Here Jonah was angry because God killed the plant that didn't deserve to be there. 

At first Jonah wanted to die because he didn't want to live in a world without Justice. Now he wants to die because he can not live in a world without compassion. 

The great question of justice is what have you done?

The great question of compassion is what can you become?

One speaks of judgment for what you have done. We get what we deserve. The other speaks mercy and looks toward who we could become.

The argument of compassion is that you may not deserve to be here but it would be such a shame to destroy you. 

When Jonah wants to die after the worm kills the plant he is really saying that he doesn't want to live in a world where beautiful things, expressions of love are destroyed just because they don't deserve to be here.

Part 3: Word of Love

Jonah 4:10-11

And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

True compassion comes from the one who invests and has long suffering towards those which He created and continues to love. 

I think Jonah is party right. In a world of Justice, simply saying sorry and repenting does not change the fact that.

This is a Word of Love.

The power of repentance is not that it changes the past, but rather it changes the future. 

Repentance is more about who you will become and less about what you have done. 

Did you make the connections yet to the New Testament?

The one place where true Love, Justice, Mercy, and Judgment collide is the cross of Jesus Christ. At the cross the wrath and justice of God was satisfied and the mercy and compassion of God was given. 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

The Runaway: This Time Around

The Runaway: This Time Around 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: It doesn’t matter where you’ve been before - this time choose to obey God!

• Jonah Responds

• So Do the People

• So Does God

Jonah Responds

When we obey God, the Holy Spirit will empower us to be bold witnesses for Jesus Christ. 

Jonah 3:1-5 ESV

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.”

After Jonah’s repentance, the word of the Lord came to him again for the same people in the same city.  

Nineveh was called a great city by God.  

Why didn’t Jonah want to go there in the first place?

God was disturbed by the evil going on in the city, but rather than ignoring it or simply overthrowing it, he raised up a prophet to minister to it.   

God always gives people, cities and nations a chance before overthrowing them. 

The chance that God gives is a warning of destruction from the mouth of his prophet. 

God was giving the people of Nineveh forty days.   

Nineveh was called great in not only importance, but size, taking three days to travel across. 

It would be hard to even know where to start to address the issues there, but God called Jonah to be intentional rather than intimidated by the task set before him.  

He walked a day into the city, right in the middle of its happenings and began to engage those who were there. 

Jesus would later say about to his followers:

Matthew 5:13-16 ESV 

“"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

The people of Nineveh were living in their sin, thinking it normal until they were confronted with the word of the Lord.  

 The beautiful thing is that by God’s grace, when the people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s warning, they believed God.  

 And as they believed God, they responded in humility with fasting and repentance.  

 Revival broke out so that every person in the city, from the greatest of them to the least of them, turned to God.  

If that is what God did in Nineveh through the preaching of one man, what can God do in our great city with a church that loves him, honors him and preaches his good news?

But how? 

We have tools.  

Learn to use the One to One as a tool to minister the good news of Jesus to a family member, friend, neighbor or co-worker who needs to come into relationship with Christ.  

So Do the People

When we obey God, we will see even the most unlikely people respond in repentance and faith.  

Jonah 3:6-9 ESV 

“The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish."”

The king of Nineveh, the gatekeeper of all that went on in the city, was compelled to remove his sign of authority and sit before God in humility at the preaching of God’s unadulterated word.  

The word of God did not have to be watered down to produce God’s desired effect.  

Because the fear of the Lord was birthed in the king of Nineveh as Jonah preached, the king called the entire city to fast and call upon Yahweh.   

The king of Nineveh, who now believed God, called the people of the city to “turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.”

This is the essence and goal of discipleship as Paul the apostle later described it to Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:2 ESV

“and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

The hope of the king Nineveh was that through fasting, repentance and calling upon the name of the Lord, that the people of Nineveh would fall upon the mercy of God and not be destroyed for their sins.  

This is the hope that the gospel of Jesus brings to individuals, families, cities and nations. 

So…

• Are you a gatekeeper in your city? 

• Do you know one who is?

• Have you responded to the word of the Lord to you and for your city?

The question then becomes:

• Why does it matter whether I choose to obey God going where and to whom he’s called me?

• It is because according to God, literal lives and destinies are on the line.  

Consider these passages: 

Ezekial 33:7-9 ESV

“"So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.”

Romans 10:13-17 ESV

“For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

So Does God

When we obey God, Jesus has room to move in grace and power to turn disasters away from individuals, families, cities and nations.  

Jonah 3:10 ESV

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

The response was more than lip service. 

When God saw what the people of Nineveh did in turning from their evil way, he relented and did not destroy the city.   

But I thought God doesn’t change his mind?

God did not change his mind, but the people their allegiance and behavior, so that relationally, they found themselves in a position to be recipients of God’s mercy and grace.  

Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter where you, your family, city or nation have been before, this time you can choose to obey God!

And in doing so, God can release times of not only refreshing, but renewal and revival when we look to his resurrection life!

Jonah 4:11 ESV

“And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"”

Always remember that we serve the God who with miracle power brings dead things to life!

His kindness can lead the hardest heart to repentance and any situation on the brink of disaster into his glorious grace.  

Scriptures upon which I stand as we go out like Jonah to preach:

There is no walking out any of this without first having deep daily roots in relationship with Jesus.  

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”

Isaiah 60:21-22 ESV

“Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it.”

John 14:12-14 ESV

“"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

John 15:7-8 ESV 

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

John 15:13-16 ESV

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

Acts 5:42 ESV

“And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 ESV

“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

The Runaway: God’s Dealings

The Runaway: God’s Dealings

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God will hem us in to call us out into his life and eternal purposes in Christ.  

• Hemming You In  

• Calling You Out  

• From the Belly of the Grave  

Hemming You In

It is an act of mercy to come to a place in life where the only answer for our situation is to cry out to God.   

Jonah 2:1 ESV

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,”

God will allow you to be hemmed in so that you finally slow down enough to think about what is most important in life - love for and obedience to Jesus.  

It’s in this place where we feel that we have nothing left to lose that we can truly hear clearly from God. 

“The purpose of prayer is emphatically not to bend God’s will to ours, but rather to align our will to his.”

— John R.W. Stott

Calling You Out

The grace of God is found when we turn away from vain idols and once again call solely upon the name of Jesus.  

Jonah 2:2-9 ESV

“saying, "I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.' The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!"”

Deceptively, it is not usually us actively running away from an audible word from God that throws us off course in his plan for our lives.  

It is what Jesus spoke about in the parable of the sower which consumes us without us thinking twice that anything is abnormal in the way that we’ve chosen to live.   

Luke 8:14 ESV

“And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”

Mark 4:19 ESV

“but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

The only antidote is to allow the Word of God to be a mirror to you and deep prayer to be a refiner to you where you are continually asking the question: 

• “Am I living set apart to God?

• Am I doing the things that Jesus is doing?”

• Am I loving the lost?

• Am I making disciples?

• Am I praying for and helping the gospel of Jesus Christ go to my city and the nations? 

When you are hemmed in by God, it is to call you out on the things in your heart that stand opposed to him.  

Jonah 2:8 NIV

““Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.”

• What is God calling you out on today?  

• What worthless idols are you clinging to - in a search for love, acceptance and identity - that you need to let go of to be found in Him?

There is nothing that compares to God’s love and plan for us. 

Throughout history, even those without God have had the inkling that there could be a change, but failed to reach it without the transforming power found in the love and Lordship of Jesus Christ: 

“You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.”

-Alan Watts

It is only Jesus and his gospel that enable us to know not only what is eternally valuable, but receive the power to live in it. 

From the Belly of the Grave

Jesus is the proof that God is able to speak to our condition to bring resurrection life where there was once only a grave.  

Jonah 2:10 ESV 

“And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”

When you are vomited out, you may come with a taste or smell that reminds you of the place from which God brought you, but it is the very thing that will propel you to fulfill his high call on your life.  

It is the anointing of God that then comes upon you to finish that call with the word of the Lord - the gospel of Jesus - and a testimony of God’s mercy to you that he also wants to extend to those to whom he sends you.  

Just as your repentance will see you leave the belly of the great fish, so the message of repentance will call people out of their sin and entrapment.  

Jesus was the greater Jonah facing literal death for us on the cross to pay for our sins.  

He went not into the belly of the fish, but into the grave to snatch the keys of death and Hades (Revelation 1:18) from the enemy. 

Matthew 12:38-45 ESV

“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation."”

*Just as Jonah emerged from the belly of the fish, so Jesus rose in resurrection power with a message of repentance and liberty to those who would let go of their vain idols that embrace God’s redeeming love for them. 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

The Runaway: Nowhere to Run

The Runaway: Nowhere to Run 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God will call us to himself and then to the people whom he works through us to save, whether we like it or not.  

• Where Will You Run?

• God Will Have His Way

• Christ in the Belly of the Fish

Where Will You Run To?

God’s presence is often found in the very place from which we want to run.   

Jonah 1:1-6 ESV

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." But Jonah rose 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 the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish."”

God loves people that we don’t and cares about people and places that we won’t on our own.   

That is good news for us because it is the reason any of us are here today (I Corinthians 1:26-31). 

God always calls his servants to a place, to a people and for a purpose.  

This is a theme that we see throughout Scripture.  

God has his eyes on the city and sends his people to minister to it, not just enjoy and take from it.  

God’s concern is not just the pleasures and career opportunities that people can find in the city, but the evils that exist there. 

*Though God called Jonah to minister to the city, Jonah fled seeking comfort over confrontation. 

This can be a pattern in Christendom, Christians fleeing the cities to find their fortresses of safety free of trial and pain.  

It is interesting that as Jonah fled from Nineveh, he fled from the presence of the Lord who was there to work in that city. 

Jonah found a ship going to Tarshish, away from Nineveh where he did not want to be, but where God wanted Jonah to be.  

*Opportunity does not equate to the call of God.  

*Whether it be a job, a home or a relationship, If you are determined not to listen to God, you can find a vessel to take you where you want to go.  

God called Nineveh a great city.

Don’t run from what God calls great so that you can find what you think is good.  

Jonah paid the price to run from Nineveh and again it was repeated, the presence of the Lord.  

What we can find outside of God’s circumstantial and geographic call is a certain perceived ease, but it will come with a price.

When we step outside of the will of God, we stop asking questions as to what he wants us to do, so that by willfully ignoring his voice, we can create a pseudo-spirituality of our own making where God is available to us whenever we call rather than when he calls us.   

Have you ever found it difficult to engage the presence of the Lord when you knew you were outside of his will?

Jonah 1:4 ESV

“But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.”

God will disrupt things in our lives when we are off course to get our attention and the attention of those around us that things have got to change.  

The trouble that came upon everyone because of Jonah’s sin caused the sailors to call upon their false gods, but no help would come until there was an acknowledgment of the one true God of Israel from whom Jonah was running.  

Have you ever been found running from God?  

How did it affect your life and the lives of those around you? 

God Will Have His Way

God’s peace is found solely in the middle of his will - he will have it no other way.  

Jonah 1:7-16 ESV

“And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done!" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, "O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you." So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.”

*We are called to walk with Jesus, not just believe in him.   

As always, if you are living in disobedience to God, your sin will find you out.  

God will arrange it so that your quiet life that you think that you’ve constructed for yourself will inevitably spit you out.  

It can be a job loss, relational or financial distress, even a health challenge that comes in the place that you thought you would find peace.  

When trouble came to the ship, the people on board with Jonah were determined to find out why.  

When you are thinking about building a home, raising kids and providing the best future for your family, you need to remember the words of a woman devoted to God through the horrors of the Holocaust:

“The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.”

-Corrie Ten Boom

Prior to his crucifixion, there were people who tried to throw Jesus off of a cliff as he ministered - yet he walked right through them (Luke 4:29,30). 

The good news is that even in Jonah’s willful disobedience, God came to discipline, deal with and redirect Jonah. 

Don’t be a portent - if God has to redirect you through discipline, he will. 

God will use your trouble in the midst of your discipline to minister to others the truth about Jesus.  

What did God use to finally grab your attention and turn you to Jesus? 

Christ in the Belly of the Fish

Jesus is our great God and prophet leading us to reconciliation with the Father through his own time spent three days in the grave after being crucified for our sins.  

Jonah 1:17 ESV

“And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

This is all a foreshadowing of the life and work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

What was your belly of the fish moment?

How did Jesus meet you or is he now coming to meet there?

“Hold loosely to the things of this life, so that if God requires them of you, it will be easy to let them go.”

-Corrie Ten Boom

Because Jesus was the better prophet, he ran to the city, not away from it, to provide a word that would bring salvation to the world.  

As God in the flesh, Christ lived sinlessly showing us the way of perfect obedience to the Father and walked with him all the way to the cross to pay the price for our rebellion. 

Because of his innocence, though he was in the grave three days, Jesus rose from the dead to provide an opportunity for repentance and forgiveness of sins to those who would put their faith in and truly follow him.  

All who are called of God are called to be servants of God.  

God wants to not only turn our lives around, but then calls us to the very cities from which we would otherwise run, to find his presence, his peace and his prophetic word for the people he has come to save.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher