Jonah - Stupidity Runs Amuck

Jonah 1:3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

Have you ever done something wrong, but not realized how stupidly wrong it was until later. (Sometimes YEARS later). I wonder if this is how Jonah felt.

First of all, it doesn't even say Jonah thought about doing what God said, he just got up and ran. Didn't want to go near those Ninevites, didn't want them to get saved, wasn't happy that God loved them too. Oh my my...

Next thing, he heads in the opposite direction, and as we know, he could've just stayed right where he was and saved his sandals some wear and tear - cause God just watched him walk all the way to Joppa. It makes me think of my sister-in-laws' three year old niece. On Tuesday, my sister-in-law went into labor with her first child, a month early (she had a little girl, so precious) but her niece hung out in the waiting room with all of us. When someone would talk to her, she would close her eyes - we all thought she was going to sleep, that's when her mother told us that she thinks we can't see her when she closes her eyes. Reality is a hard fact of life.

THEN, as if the fact that he thinks walking in the opposite direction will hide him from God, he PAYS to get on a boat. This is really the height of stupidity. Hard earned money that's wasted on a useless endeavor (we've all been there on that one).

Finally Jonah got on board the ship, and it states "to flee from the LORD". Do you ever think Jonah looked back at this verse and said "What was I thinking?" "Hiding from God... who can do that?" It may just be a scare tactic we use on our kids "God can see you, even when I can't..." But the truth is, He can see everything, and not just when we're doing something wrong. He's there all the time, watching over us, protecting us, guiding us and always always always loving us.