On a recent trip to Israel, I was able to visit Jaffa, which is the ancient city of Joppa. This large and thriving city has well preserved the ancient city. You can still walk the old roads and even visit the front door to the house of Simon the Tanner from Acts 10. You can even still see the layout of the ancient port. It was here that Jonah sought to run from God. He traveled to this ancient city in an attempt to flee from God’s presence and go the opposite direction from God’s plan.
We are like Jonah so often. God says, “Go.” We say, “Stop.” We may rebel and run as fast as we can in the opposite direction. We may not be that bold in our rebellion, but we may do just enough to comply without fully obeying. We may not be as egregious as Jonah, but note that our partial obedience is still disobedience.
May we learn to trust and obey when God speaks. May we allow what our sinful tendencies reveal to be a motivation to repent and look more like Jesus. May we take an honest look in the mirror to see our sin and grow to walk with faith and not by sight. Even though it may mean we go to dark places, we will go in His grace and by His strength.