Travel by Peter Grier

Author:Peter Grier
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783597369
Publisher: IVP
Published: 2018-08-29T16:00:00+00:00

Destination: Nineveh

Mode of transport: By boat, on foot or otherwise

Company: Jonah and anyone who would help him escape

It’s the perfect getaway. If you have had to bear preachy, conservative folk breathing down your neck, whether that be family, friends or just the culture around you, you’ll know what I mean!

Getting away from people who enforce their thoughts and narrow ways of living on you, and escaping into the utter wilds and freedom is an epic feeling. But even if you’re not escaping anything other than the mundane things of life, it’s still fabulous.

Going wherever.

Doing things whenever.

Meeting anyone you want along the way.

The world is your playground!

Now, feeling bitter about such a religious, conservative culture may not be a bad thing (some religion, making itself known or felt as primarily ‘do nots’, is not true religion at all). But, in this story, the bitterness of our friend Jonah is far from justified (though certainly understandable).

Jonah has decided that the people to whom he was asked to bring the bad news about God’s judgment and the good news about God’s rescue are not worthy of it. This was a fairly natural feeling, given the horrors present in surrounding cultures at the time, even if we’re always quick to forget our own failings and how God dealt with them (in grace).

And so, not understanding the irony of refusing this mission, he does a runner in precisely the other direction, away from Nineveh. He goes to the port of Joppa, jumps on a ship going to Tarshish and heads off travelling. It’s the natural reaction when we don’t want to face the music and dance.

But he’s missed one crucial thing. He can’t hide from God. As God’s children, we can’t hide from God. There are no places devoid of God. And no places that God is more inclined to hang out in than others. God’s home is everywhere he is. The psalmist wrote of the beauty of that thought:

You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways . . .

You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me . . .

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

(Psalm 139:1–3, 5, 7–10)

Amazing knowledge! But equally, those who don’t follow God can’t run from his judgment either (Amos 9:1–6). The justice that we yearn for against evil will one day happen:

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:

‘Strike the tops of the pillars

so that the thresholds shake.

Bring them down on the heads of all the people;

those who are left I will kill with the sword.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.