Jonah 1:1-3 [Jonah Fled from the Presence of God]

[Things to Meditate On]

1. When the word of God came to Jonah, Jonah instead fled in order to escape from the presence of the LORD. As Jonah fled, he encountered a great storm on the sea, was thrown into the sea, and a great fish swallowed him. While Jonah was inside the fish for three days, he repented before God, and God commanded the fish to vomit him out upon dry land. In the end, Jonah went to the city of Nineveh and proclaimed the word of God.

2. As we can see from Jonah’s case above, it is impossible for us to flee from the presence of God. This is because God can see and examine us wherever we are. If we do not believe this fact, we may become careless, thinking, like Jonah, that we only need to get through that one moment.

The passage below is a psalm of David, which sings of how God sees and knows us wherever we are.

Psalm 139:1-12 “1O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. 7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”

3. The word that God examines all things about us seems to teach us two major lessons. One is that God knows everything about us, and therefore we cannot live as we please, committing evil according to our own will. The other is that we are not alone. Even though reality may appear as if we are alone, Jesus is watching over us wherever we are, and therefore He is always with us. Therefore, we must walk properly wherever we are (Romans 13:12-14), and we must not be afraid or lonely because we think we are alone (Isaiah 41:10, John 16:32).

Psalm 138:6 “Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.”

Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”

John 16:32 “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.”

[Decision and Application]

God is “Spirit” (John 4:19-24). In other words, He is not restricted by time, place, or space. Jonah tried to flee from the presence of God, but he could not do so because God is Spirit; therefore, leaving one certain place does not mean that a person can escape from God. As mentioned earlier, this also means that we can never truly be alone. This is because wherever we are, God examines us and knows all our ways (Psalm 139:1-4). Through these words, we must now understand that we should not regard location as important, nor should we be concerned with whether there are many people or few, but rather, we should regard it as important to “wait upon the LORD” wherever we are. This is because those who wait upon the LORD can receive new strength from God (Isaiah 40:27-31). Therefore, if being alone enables us to look only to Jesus, then even being alone can become the grace of Jesus.

Isaiah 40:27-31 “27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? 28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Now we must not become proud or live recklessly because we think we are alone, nor should we be afraid or lonely because we are alone. As we have seen above, God knows all our circumstances. Therefore, if we humbly wait upon God wherever we are, He will give us new strength, like mounting up with wings as eagles. Truly, those who wait upon Jesus will not become weary when they run, nor faint when they walk, because Jesus will be with them.

John 8:29 “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”

Malachi 4:2 “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.”

Amen.