Many times God will tell us to do something. But, for various reasons we choose not to do it and flee and do something else. Our disobedience to the Lord affects those around us. Often when we see a person who is living a sinful life as beyond redemption. But, we know that's not true, because God saved us. God may tell you to invite your neighbor to go to church with you, but because we fear the outcome we don't do what God has laid on our heart to do. Even though Jonah willfully disobeyed God, God gave him a way of escape. He will do this for us too if we repent and turn back to God. Sometimes God will allow things to happen to us that get our attention and draw us back to Him. He did this with Jonah when the storm was brewing while he slept below deck on the ship. Jonah did not go because he foresaw that the people in Nineveh would repent and God would forgive them. Many times we think we can run from God, but we cannot and He knows all things. Sin brings storms and tempests into the family, into churches, and into nations. The wind was sent after Jonah to draw him back to God so he could do what God told him to do in the first place. Many will not pray until they are scared to it. Every man on the ship Jonah slept in began to pray, they were so afraid of the storm going on around them. They were praying to pagan gods. But there can be but on God. God is to be prayed to when we are in distress and danger. The storm was sent after Jonah, because God has work for him to do. God has a variety of ways of bringing to light concealed sins and sinners. God will find all his children that desert him. The men on the ship perceived that God was angry; that God was angry with the one who feared and worshiped him, for running away from his work. They asked Jonah "Why have you done this"?
When we commit a willful sin we do not know how far the consequences of it may reach. We must pray and believe when we are in a storm and study to answer the end for which it was sent. Jonah's experience encourages others to trust in God and do what he tells us to do. In these two chapters of Jonah Jonah tried to run from his calling and God. We can not run from God. Obedience to God is always the best thing to do. Jonah learned the hard way that God cannot be ignored nor can He be avoided. There is always a chance to disobey God. Those who run from God always find their efforts to be fruitless. Many spend a lifetime buying passage to the "Tarshises" of the world, just like Jonah. They will discover in time it it futile.
God seeks to restore fellowship to all His children that stray. All we have to do is honestly repent of the sin, confess it to God as sin. He promises to forgive and help us keep from continuing that sin. Man sees himself with a distorted view. He sees his accomplishments and is lead to believe he is special and has great power. When faced with death, as Jonah was when he was in the belly of the big fish, man cannot help but see himself as he really is. Man is nothing in comparison to God.
Salvation was the reason Jonah had been called to go to Nineveh. Man cannot work for his salvation. It is the free offer of God.
