Run Pt. 4 | The Cost of Running
Jonah
1:3-14 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He
went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and
went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the
Lord.
4But
the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on
the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5Then the mariners
were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was
in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into
the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6So
the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call
out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not
perish.”
7And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that
we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots,
and the lot fell on Jonah. 8Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose
account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you
come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9And
he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who
made the sea and the dry land.” 10Then the men were exceedingly
afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew
that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11Then
they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for
us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12He said to them,
“Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for
I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
13Nevertheless,
the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea
grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14Therefore they called
out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on
us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”
When you run from God things get complicated.
The journey
away from God at first appears harmless on the outset. Jonah goes to the port,
finds a ship going to Tarshish and pays the fare. It may have appeared way too
easy, there just happened to be a ship and he just happened to have the money.
It all seemed like the right thing to do for him. Which proves the point, when
you really want to disobey the Lord there is always a way. You don’t have to
look hard to find an alternative path to flee from the presence of the Lord.
But as I
mentioned in an earlier post, if you choose to take that alternative path,
there is a cost. The fare Jonah paid to get a ride was only the beginning of
what he would have to pay for running from God.
1st It hurts you.
The Bible
says he was fast asleep in the ship. He was so distressed, rebellious,
depressed, and freaked out that he had no
interest in life and no energy to face his circumstances. You could say he was
dying in his sleep trying to escape his troubles. The captain comes down to
where he was sleeping through a crazy storm and shouts at him, “What are you
doing, you sleeper!?”
Have you
ever been so depressed like Jonah that all you want to do is sleep your
problems away? Men and women who have spent time in jail or prison know this
feeling very well. There are countless stories of inmates who were released
after some time of being locked up whose sleep schedule is totally out of whack
because they slept through most of their sentence. When they get a job, they
struggle to make it on time because of their wrecked sleeping schedule.
Depression, specifically brought on from rebellion, might begin as only a
mental state, but it costs a person physically, socially, emotionally, and
spiritually.
And it all
happens because God has wired you in a specific way. He has a plan for you, and
when you choose to follow your own plan, it’s like a lion choosing to cage
itself. The lion needs to hunt and roar. Those caged lions at the circus all look
depressed because they’re not getting the adventure they’re wired for.
That’s
exactly what happens to us when we try to do things our own way. Sure it looks
a lot like freedom and it might even feel a lot like freedom. But only for a
while. Soon you’ll slowly begin to realize you’ve put yourself in a cage and
you’ll find yourself increasingly unsatisfied with the life you chose. That’s
when depression sets in. But your stubborn sin nature will continue to fight
it. Forcing you to run further and faster in search of something satisfying,
not realizing that the only thing that can satisfy you is waiting just behind
you with His arms wide open.
The
personal cost of running from Christ is great and it’s not worth it. If you
don’t want to take my word for it, you’ll find out soon enough the hard way.
But you need to understand, it doesn’t just hurt you.
2nd It hurts others too.
The storm
of Jonah’s consequences brought trouble upon a lot of innocent people. The
storm was so great that the most experienced sailors were terrified. Remember
this…
We don’t get to sin for free.
When
I was about 18 years old, I went on a mission trip to the desert lands of Utah
to do some work at a ranch camp. On one of the days there we got to have a
little fun on a horseback adventure. We were told to meet at the barn where the
horses were, and they would help us get saddled up.
So once we were all saddled up we set off on our adventure, my friends all leading the way with me and my dusty steed, Billy, taking up the rear. The trail just took us around some rocky hills and through a couple fields. It was a pretty simple trail really. But Billy, the old horse, didn’t really like to follow in the line and he didn’t really want to listen to me. Instead he wanted to walk into the field and eat the wheat. Several times we were just walking along and he would lose his step and stumble just a little and my heart would jump into my throat. I was fully expecting this old boy to fall over on my leg and crush me and I would have to whisper my final words before I died in the dessert like a western movie. But he always caught his footing, and we kept moseying on behind everybody.
I also soon
found out that this old, clumsy horse didn’t like other horses either. The
reason we fell into the back of the line was because he didn’t like having
another horse beside him. Once or twice we would end up beside the next horse
and he would swing his head and try to bite the other horse. This made me fear
for my life and start pleading with him to love his neighbor like he should.
Eventually
we all wound up on top of a hill to catch an astounding view of the sunset.
Sunsets in the desert are stunning to say the least. We all sat there gazing in
wonder from the top of this tall hill. We could see far across the desert and
watch the shadows growing. That’s when I realized… what goes up a hill must
also go down a hill. Right then the tour guide, sitting on the precipice looks
back at us and says, “Just lean back!” and he and his perfectly graceful horse plunged
over the ledge.
One by one
all of the others started slowly downhill, leaning as far back as they could,
and their horses elegantly tiptoed down the hill. And then it was just me and
Billy... “Billy, I know we’ve had our differences. But I ask, that just this
time, you please follow the rest of them.” But Billy is old and Billy is
clumsy. And Billy doesn’t like other horses. So with all of my faith in this
horse, I lean back and he starts down the hill. All is going well. Billy is
behaving like a true gentleman. Until the clumsy old man stumbled.
He quickly
caught himself, but it sent us down the hill at a slightly quicker trot. It
wasn’t long until we came up alongside the rider in front of us. Which Billy
doesn’t approve of one bit. So Billy does what can only be expected from a
grumpy, stubborn, clumsy horse. He starts bucking, kicking, and running down
the hill full speed. Rocks are being kicked up in the air. We’re nearly
beginning a land slide. We’re whizzing past all of the other riders. And all I
can feel is my spine being whipped back and forth like a maraca.
No amount
of pulling, tugging, or screaming would stop Billy. He was on a rampage. Over
my own screaming and the laughing of all the others I hear the voice of the
tour guide. “Pull back!!!” So for the sake of my own survival I pull back with
all of my might on the reign and Billy slides to a halt at the bottom of the
hill. Dust clouds swirling all around me. Knuckles white. Heart beating like a
jungle war-drum. Prayers still echoing through the hills. And a justifiable
anger in my heart towards Billy the grumpy horse. I didn’t talk to him the rest
of the trip.
Billy
basically made his own life miserable. He was unhappy and couldn’t get along
with other horses. He refused to follow the path that was set before him. And
every time he tried to take his own route, things got uncomfortable. But it
wasn’t just Billy who suffered. The other horses suffered from his grumpiness
and the rider most definitely suffered from his stubbornness.
Your rebellion
doesn’t just affect you. Others are hurt when we try to forge our own trail. It
happened with me and Billy. It happened with Jonah and the sailors. And it
happens with you and those closest to you. So this is the final cost of running
from God: The pain of sin and correction enter your life. Not only do you have
to deal with the consequences but those around you, most often those who care
for you the most, have to deal with the pain as well.
The good
news is, there is a person who took the ultimate consequence of your sins so
you could be restored to your Heavenly Father. Next month, we’ll examine the
cure to running.
