But Jonah Rose Up...

“But Jonah rose up to flee… from the presence of the LORD. So he went down… found a ship … paid the fare and went down into it to go … from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah 1:3

This is no doubt one of the most consequential But’s in the Bible. Many of us are very familiar with the Bible story Jonah and the Whale. As children we enjoyed the little felt pieces resembling characters in our story wherein Jonah could be stuck in the belly of the whale or removed and placed on the shore. But life is not a children’s story and this story begins with Jonah rising up and making a decision to disobey God.

All of us at one point in our lives or another could insert our name into this passage. The will that we are born with is the will that normally drives our actions. The more deeply we grow into Christ the less we try to exert our own will onto our lives. Once we become Christians we are not guaranteed to never run from God. Jonah was one of God’s chosen prophets who had obediently and faithfully communicated the will of God to His people up to that point. The reason for this disobedience was the fact that God had asked him to leave his comfortable life and minister to the wicked and unrighteous. Job disagreed with who should receive God’s mercy and suffered from spiritual pride.

We tend to do the same thing as we judge others and treat them as if the cross wasn’t enough to cover their actions. We decide to strike the gavel of spiritual elitism and rise up and flee from their presence. When we flee from the will of God we will make intentional thoughts of departure followed up by action. Job made the decision to ‘rise up’ (disobey) and acted on that decision by finding a ship (making plans apart from God), paying the fare (investing in that plan), and going down into it (walking the daily walk in that plan)…and all of this apart from the presence of the LORD.

We cannot know what God is up to with our limited knowledge. As the Bible states in Isaiah 58: 9-11, ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’

When our will rises up…we will go down! Let’s hope the only time we will ‘go down into it’ will be when we go down on our knees and allow God’s presence to rise up.