Can anyone hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the Lord;
“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:24
Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me,
and thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:7-10
Even if we were to descend to Hell, Jesus is there
There is no place to go where He does not dwell
He is able to see the depths of our hearts,
our most secret thoughts
There is nothing hidden from Him
Jonah tried to run away from the Lord, didn’t work, Chapter 1:
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. v3
The winds and the sea were about to break up the ship
and Jonah told them to throw him overboard and things would be calm
Jonah knew the Lord was responsible
Jonah told them he was running from the Lord
There is nowhere to go to flee the presence of the Lord, and nowhere to hide
Jonah fell asleep and they woke him up
and pleaded for Jonah to call on his God
Then they cast lots and the lots fell on Jonah:
And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew;
and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven,
which hath made the sea and the dry land. v 9
Then were the men exceedingly afraid,
and said unto him, Why hast thou done this?
For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord,
because he had told them. v10
And he said unto them,
Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea;
so shall the sea be calm unto you:
for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. v12
They did not want to throw Jonah overboard
but instead tried to row back to land and sea became oven more fierce
Then the men on the ship all cried out to the Lord
and pleaded that they not be held guilty for throwing him overboard
So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea:
and the sea ceased from her raging. v15
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. v16
It took a lot for Jonah to realize he could not escape the Lord
God could’ve used someone else instead of teaching Jonah a lesson,
but the lesson he learned can help us all
Be obedient and you cannot outrun God
Our lives may not be as theatrical as getting swallowed by a whale,
the only fish large enough to swallow a man
and who also needs air to breathe
We may have experienced knowing God was asking us to do something
and we can’t stop thinking of the directive,
can’t sleep, reminders everywhere we look,
Not obeying God is uncomfortable
The first example that comes to mind
is when Jesus wants us to reconcile with someone:
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar,
and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar,
and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother,
and then come and offer thy gift. Matthew 5:23-24
It doesn’t seem fair to me that We have to be the ones
to reconcile with Them when They have the ought
Do it anyway because that’s the word of God
If you want to make God happy, swallow your pride
and do what is pleasing to Him
There are reasons He tells us what He tells us,
sometimes He explains them to us right then, other times not,
Fear and obey God anyway,
humility before God comes before exaltation
You will surely understand one day
He explained it all to Jonah,
He will to us as well