You Cannot Outrun God

“Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:” (De 28:45 AV)

There is no escaping the hand of God.  What the Spirit spoke of this morning was the idea the hand of God will pursue.  It doesn’t matter if we try to out run the hand of God.  He will find us and will continue to correct, no matter how hard we run.  He will pursue!

If we learn anything from Jonah’s life is that we cannot outrun God.  He had a great position where he was called.  Called to preach the word of God under the government of Jeroboam II, he enjoyed relatively peaceful ministry.  Jeroboam II was a secular king.  He was neither supportive of, nor adverse against, the prophets of God.  He was more concerned with the financial prosperity of the kingdom that he was the spiritual condition of his people.  This lent to rather easy ministry for the men of God.  They had an average ministry.  They suffered neither persecution, not overwhelming prosperity.  That is a wonderful place to be.  No trouble from the rebellious, but not trouble from success.  The perfect scenario.  Then God came along and called Jonah to Nineveh.  The capital city of the Assyrians.  Those who constantly raided, robbed, and abused the eastern flank of the kingdom.  There was a natural bias in the heart of Jonah.  He wanted all those Ninevites dead!  Now, the LORD is sending him to preach to them.  So, he did what only would seem natural to do.  He ran.  The LORD pursued him.  God met Jonah on a boat.  He stirred the seas to the point of terror.  Jonah hid in the hold.  God prepared a fish.  Jonah jumped into the sea thinking he cold drown, but was swallowed whole by the fish.  Finally, Jonah was free from God.  Yet, God pursued him to the belly of the whale.  The whale spat him on the ground.  God met him on the shore.  Jonah preached, yet desired their destruction.  They repented and God’s hand met Jonah in the heat of the day.  Every time Jonah thought he had escaped the hand of God, God was there!

We cannot outrun the hand of God.  He will find us.  It is better to repent and submit to the hand of God than to try to outrun Him.  It simply will not work!