Jonah 1:1-3 

“The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” 3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

Have you ever just wanted to run away? Well, you are not alone because we have probably all felt like trying to escape from our circumstances at some point in our lives. As I visit with those in the ministry, especially pastors they will often say, “sometimes I just want to run away.” Partly because it is hard trying to please so many and the weight one can carry trying to care for them along with the feeling of responsible that comes with so many lives. Sometimes even preachers want to run away from the pressure. When you consider all the jokes about how little pastors work, it’s funny to consider what many preacher’s actually day dream about, having 9 to 5, five days a week job. The point is that we all entertain the thought of escaping at some time in our lives. In the book of Jonah we find such a man, one who didn’t just dream about running away he actually did. Jonah ran from responsibility, and the revealed Word of God. This is a story about someone very much like us; it’s a story of struggle between the Fathers clear call and Jonah’s callous feelings. It is here that we see Jonah wrestling over the Will of God, his deliberate disobedience, and the reckless rejection of his calling. It involves problems, pouting, pursuit and prayer, but most of all it’s a story about second chances. Now before we jump in we need to note that there are some who interpret the book of Jonah as an allegory, a story with a hidden meaning. But I am convinced that it is an accurate portrayal of literal events, a story that we can both believe and accept as accurate. Why do I believe this, because when the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to prove that what he said was true, Jesus replied in Matt 12:39-40, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” It is here that Jesus used the story of Jonah as a historical illustration of his own literal resurrection. So if we reject a literal interpretation of Jonah we also have to question the legitimacy of the Lord. It is in this passage that we see several important lessons, first:

• God still speaks and invites us to join Him in His work

Verse one says “The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai” Now we don’t know the specifics on how God spoke, it may have been an audibly voice, like with Adam and Abraham or it could have been in a vision as He did with Ezekiel, or He could have spoken to him in a dream like He did with Joseph. We don’t know how God chose to speak to Jonah, but we know that He did. The point is that God’s call is personal and it’s what gives us purpose. The second thing that we see is that when God speaks:  

• Sometimes we dislike what we hear 

“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” God’s call is clear; there is no guessing at what God wants. God was calling Jonah to take His message of judgment to Nineveh. Yet this is the last place on earth that Jonah thought God would send him and the last place he wanted to go. Nineveh was not a nice place; it had a reputation for corruption and cruelty. It was the Assyrian policy to never keep their prisoners of war alive, if fact they took pleasure in others pain and often skinned their victims alive. God was sending Jonah to preach to his enemies. Sometimes God tells us to do things that we don’t want to do and often our reaction is one of wanting to rebel and run away. Instead of responding in obedience we feel like turning around and running in the opposite direction as fast as we can. Is God calling you to care about those you tend to see as something of a challenge? Maybe it’s that person at work who is having problems and God is laying it on your heart to talk to them, yet your first response is “Lord, I absolutely positively don’t want to do this. First of all, who am I to tell anyone how to live their life, I mean it’s really none of my business, and secondly why should I have to deal with this mess, it’s not really my problem. Besides they will probably just get defensive and mad at me and I don’t want to waste my time, so why don’t I just pray form a safe distance? Maybe it’s that person you know who has no friends, you see them every day and God is calling you to befriend them. But you’re thinking, “Lord, there’s a reason why they don’t have any friends, why can’t you just send someone else!” Maybe it’s that person who’s a little rough around the edges and God’s been putting them on your heart but you’re thinking, “What do I have in common with them, they are probably not interested in Jesus. What if they just drag me down spiritually into their mess, I really don’t want or need their garbage in my life.” You need to come to grips with the fact that you may not like God’s call. But when we read that Jonah was commissioned by God to go to Nineveh, it ought to remind us of our call to take the gospel to the godless. How obedient are you to the great commission? Many of us are more like Jonah, we want to defy God when He calls us to go and we want to say no. Are you obeying or delaying? 

1 Peter 1:6-9

6 “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”

God is not the source of suffering or the author of affliction, but He also doesn’t allow it to be wasted. He uses every trial to train, and only God can bring miracles out of our misery. God assures us that He will plant seeds in the soil of our sorrow that will sprout up to compete and choke out the weeds of this world. Seeds that will bloom and bear fruit, bolstering our faith, not saving faith, but sanctifying faith. Trials have two benefits for believers, first these trials demonstrate our Faith. Trials test and reveal real faith. In James 1:12 the word test comes from the Greek word, dokimon, meaning to test for the purpose of approving. Suffering trials demonstrates the authenticity of our faith, putting it on display for the entire world to see. Here Peter provides us with the picture of gold. If you thought you had discovered gold how would you prove its authenticity, and reveal its true value? First you would take it to an assayer who would evaluate it by putting it to the test. Testing gold involves rubbing the gold-colored item on black stone, which will leave an easily visible mark. The mark is then tested by applying nitric acid which will dissolve the mark of any item that is not gold. This testing focuses on the fact that gold is a noble metal, resistant to change by corrosion, oxidation or acid. Peter says that the same thing often happens to our faith, if we had nothing but favorable circumstances, our faith might not be authentic faith rooted in the Father but simply our favorable circumstances. Take away our favorable circumstances, replace our comfort with crisis and if faith in God is still there, it’s genuine. What about your faith is it leaving a mark that is not dissolved by the afflicting acid of life? Second, trials develop and deepen our Faith. Stress can strengthen, and just like a physical muscle that is exercised so our faith must also be flexed. Trials test our faith, refining by removing the rubbish. When gold comes out of the ground it is often mixed with impurities, taking the flames of the fire to refine. In this life we will experience trials of testing, whose purpose is not just to reveal our faith, but to refine it. We can rejoice in tests and trials because they reveal what is real and hopefully, we can respond like Job, a man who knew disaster and difficulty, Job 23:10 “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” What hard thing is harassing you, what life lesson are you learning right now? Is your faith being revealed and refined? Are you focusing on the mark of faith or the misery? Just like gold we need the fire to test and refine our faith, as it burns away the impurities. Only when we see the benefit of the fire and perceive its purifying purpose will we rejoice in difficulty rather than rebel. Trails are not about us trying but simply trusting. May be today you are struggling under the heat of some hardship, just remember that no matter how hot it gets God’s hand is on the thermostat and He knows what He is doing. So, are you going to shout about your salvation or your suffering?