Ignoring God Can Be A Hazardous Ordeal

Today, as I’m writing this, I’m preparing to teach our Jr. and Sr. High youth group about calling. What is it that God is specifically leading you to do for the Kingdom? This brought me back to the summer after my senior year of High School. My father was a minister and had moved all of our family to KY from Northern Ohio during the school year…with one caveat. I stayed behind to finish out my senior year. A few hours after graduation was over, all my stuff got packed up, and we headed to KY. I wasn’t excited about this. I wanted to spend my last summer before college with my friends. I had no desire to move to another state and spend the summer bored and not knowing anyone. On top of all of this, I had not saved any money for college. My mom and dad told me they’d match any money I saved for college. Instead of saving, I spent it on parties, alcohol, and other dumb stuff.

Halfway through the summer, I realized that there was no way I could make it to school that fall, so I decided I would save up and begin college in January. This would help me keep from getting too many loans while also having a little spending money. However, as the summer went on, I realized that I didn’t want to stay home. I had a deep desire to get out on my own. The only problem was that I couldn’t afford it. That led me to do something I hadn’t done in a long, long time. I prayed. I hadn’t really prayed in years, but I felt like this was my last ditch effort to get out on my own.

My prayer went something like this. “Hey, God. It’s me, John. I know we haven’t talked in a while, but I really need to get to college. If you can get me $5000, I’ll even go to KCC and be a youth minister.” KCC was Kentucky Christian College, now University. Both of my parents had attended there, and I figured that God might hook me up if I said that. I never told my parents about that prayer or anyone else, for that matter. I figured nothing was going to happen, so I just went about life like I had before.
 
A week or two later, I got a phone call from my Aunt Virginia. She asked me about my plans for college, and I told her what my current plan was. She asked me if she could help out with the expenses. I figured she would be able to help with the costs of books. An extra $500 would be incredible. She then said, “Would $5000 help?” I was floored. I knew in that moment that God was calling me into ministry.

I often say that God rarely whispers to me. He tends to yell at me, and I got the message. I enrolled that fall at KCC, and the rest is history. I’ve now been in ministry for 29 years this fall. There have been ups and downs, but I’ve never felt as though I made a bad choice. The choice was made for me.
 
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11–13

God’s calling on our lives is almost always very specific, but so many of us miss out on it for any number of reasons. We aren’t listening. The call doesn’t fit what we think it should be. We’re afraid of what will happen if we follow this call. Sometimes, we just try to ignore God. This is what we see happening in the story of Jonah.

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 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.
Jonah 1:1–3

Jonah was called to go and let Ninevah know that God was going to punish them. Ninevah was the capital of Assyria. It was the cultural, scientific, and political center of the Assyrian Empire, which just happened to be the mortal enemies of Israel. Jonah wanted nothing to do with this call, and decided to run. As we all know, running from God is worthless. God is omnipresent. Simply put, He’s everywhere all the time. There is no hiding, and Jonah was being disobedient in hiding from Him. God wouldn’t take this lightly.

But 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. Then 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. So 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.”
Jonah 1:4–6

God does not deal lightly with disobedience, and Jonah wasn’t going to get away with it. The mariners that were with him on the boat were terrified about what was happening, and they knew it was all due to Jonah. They only had one option.

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah1:15–17

We’ve been talking all week about the justice of God. In this situation, Jonah thought he could get away with ignoring God and running away. We know this didn’t work. Suddenly, Jonah is now in the belly of the fish and rethinking things. If you know this story, then you know that it ends with Jonah following through on his calling to talk to the Ninevites. Unfortunately, Jonah had to live in the belly of that fish first.
 
When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.
Proverbs 21:15

One thing many of us miss in this account is that without the fish, Jonah probably would have drowned in those waters. While being in the belly of that fish was an awful experience, it kept Jonah safe from death. For us, justice can seem awful, but it may be the very thing that protects us from something worse. When we learn to embrace God’s justice, knowing that His calling for us is our best option, we can trust in what God desires for us. We shouldn’t fear justice. We should thank God for it and long for His call on our lives.