This post is Day 2 in a series of studies about “Jonah”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today. (The form is at the bottom of the page).

Jonah – Day 2

Many today act as though God lives in church buildings, and only there. They act religiously when they are in churches or cathedrals, and then do what they like elsewhere. We must remember that God sees and hears EVERYTHING that goes on. He is the ALL seeing, ALL hearing God.

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.

The Thought

Jonah is often called “the reluctant prophet” or the “rebellious prophet”. God does not choose perfect people to serve His purposes, He uses ordinary people with ordinary faults and problems. Jonah was mistaken in thinking that if he fled the land where God’s people lived, then he could flee from the Lord. He hadn’t read Psalm 139! Have you?

Many people today act as though God lives in church buildings, and only there. They act religiously when they are in churches, chapels or cathedrals, and then do what they like elsewhere. We must remember that God sees and hears EVERYTHING that goes on on the earth. He is the ALL seeing, ALL hearing God.

I find it interesting too that Jonah paid to go in the wrong direction!! How often do we spend our well earned money on doing the wrong thing, or going in the wrong direction? We all know in our heart of hearts that God provides for us to do the right things in His eyes. That means holidays when needed and food to share with others, but it does not mean financing our rebellion.

Jonah paid his fare, and didn’t even get to the destination he had hoped, because he was thrown into the sea!!

Action

Read psalm 139 today, and praise God that He is omnipresent, that He sees everything and is everywhere. Praise Him that He loves us in spite of our rebellion and reluctance to obey.

Pray for those who think God lives only in churches, and pray too for any you know who are trying to escape the Lord today.

For a full list of online studies available on this site, please click here.

If there is a subject you would like to see on this site, please use the comment section below or drop us an email (there’s a link at the very top of the page). We can’t promise to cover them all, and our studies are usually prepared a month or two in advance, so please be patient.

For a full list of physical resources available through this site, please click here.