In the book of Jonah, we read the story of how God told Jonah to go and preach to the city of Ninevah. But, Jonah didn’t want to do what God told him to do, so he decided to run the other way. He bought passage on a ship going the other direction, and eventually he ended up in the belly of a whale for 3 days and 3 nights before he finally prayed and confessing his sin told God he would obey Him. Then God had the whale spit Jonah out onto the beach, and He went and did what God had told Him to do in the first place.
It certainly would have been a LOT better for Jonah had he simply listened to God and obeyed him. If Jonah hadn’t repented and agreed to obey God, he would have died in the belly of that whale. In Jonah 2:5, Jonah said, “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head.” When he finally realized it was either obey God or die, he made the wise decision, and called out to God for mercy.
Not only did Jonah put his own life in jeopardy, he also put the lives of those who were on the ship with him in danger. Jonah 1:4 tells us, “The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.” He put all of the men on that ship in danger, and only after convincing them that the only way to save their lives was to throw him overboard did the ship survive. When we disobey God, we also hurt other people as well. Everyday, the life we live has an impact on other people’s lives whether for good or for bad.
God may not choose to have us thrown off a ship and be swallowed by a whale when we disregard His Word, but a life lived in disobedience to Him is NOT one that is satisfying or fun.
Romans 6:16 warns us, “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” If we choose to obey our flesh and sin, we do ourselves harm by destroying our lives. But if we choose to obey God and His Word, we not only have a much better life, we also gain all of the promises in His Word that are given to those who love and obey Him.
Jonah had his reasons for not wanting to go preach to Ninevah. And we have our reasons as to why we don’t want to do certain things that the Bible tells us to do, or that God tells us to do through His Holy Spirit. And like Jonah, who thought, “Nope. I’m not going to do that. I’ll just go somewhere else.”, we think it doesn’t matter, we’re not hurting anyone but ourselves. And we think we can just do whatever we want. And maybe for a time, yes…but eventually we’ll pay the price.
Following God isn’t always fun, it isn’t always easy, and it isn’t always the choice we want to make – However, following Him is FAR FAR better than trying to run in the other direction.
God doesn’t want to make our lives miserable. He doesn’t give us instructions and commands to simply destroy us. He is GOD, and as God, He knows what is best for every moment of every day, and for EVERY detail of our lives.
“Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:67-68)