Truths from the OT: Never run from God

Never run from God. Everyone has heard the tale of Jonah, a prophet who'd rather flee to “Timbuktu” than face his calling (Jonah 1:3). When he didn't like what he heard God saying he responded with his feet that he knew better than the creator of the earth and the seas. God hurled a storm at the ship to persuade him (1:4), but Jonah decided it was better to drown than answer God (1:12). However, God can not be thwarted and Jonah found himself preaching in Nineveh (3:1) after a three day hell in a fish belly (2:1). As a prophet of God, Jonah of all people should have known that fleeing from God's presence is futile. Yet people still follow Jonah's example today. Believers ignore the call to witness (Matt. 28:18) in favor of comfort and complacency (2 Tim. 4:3). Non-believers hope to escape God through denial (Psalm 14:1). Similar to Jonah both think freedom will result from fleeing God. So they judge his omniscient plan for them and crown themselves as ruler of their life. However, whether a medical crisis, the words of a friend, a lost loved one, or a hotel bible, they will find that God, the hound of heaven, pursues us all.