The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:

"Get up!

Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me."

Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord's presence.

Jonah 1:1-3 CSB

Not sure how the "word of the Lord" came to Jonah, but he was running from "the Lord's presence", literally the face of Yahweh.

This must've been more than some prophet, more than a thought or good idea, more than someone speaking into his life, it was unmistakable.

The face of Yahweh.

Wherever Jonah was at that moment he wasn't running from Nineveh, he was running from God. 

He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord's presence.

Jonah 1:3 CSB

Running from God. 

Not sure why he thought God wouldn't be in Tarshish, or what it was that made him run, but when it comes to running from God we don't always think it through. 

What is it in my life I think I can hide or if I just went over "there" God won't know about and won't bother me about?

What if Jonah had invited God into his fear? How would this story have played out?

Maybe that's the invitation, not to flee from the face of Yahweh, but to invite Him closer?

#jonah

#monday

#Godsgym

#somethingtochewon