Welcome back to The Cookie Exchange, a space where fellow believers are encouraged to share experiences and insight with one another. We all have different gifts, insight, and experiences. Part of God’s plan is that we learn and grow through relationships with others. Would you take a moment to share how God is working in your life? It’s energizing to hear what God is up to!

God has been stretching me through identifying with Jonah. I have been fascinated and uncomfortably challenged by a story I thought I knew so well. Before we jump into Jonah’s story, let’s look a bit deeper into our story.

It sounds odd, but as human beings we live in two dimensions. We simultaneously exist in the physical and the spiritual realm. We can’t see the spiritual realm, which makes it difficult to grasp and understand. Ephesians 2:4-6 (NIV) says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

These verses reveal our position in the heavenly realms. God raised and seated us with and in Christ. That’s not something that will happen, it has happened. You’re living on this earth physically and you are continually in the presence of Christ in the heavenly realm. We have dual occupancy.

With this in mind, let’s switch to Jonah. Last week I shared a literal translation of Jonah 1:2-3a. This is where I’d like to camp out today as well. With this idea of dual occupancy, picture the scene of these verses in your mind.

Jonah 1:2-3a
Get up. Go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against them because their evil has risen to my face. And Jonah got up – to run away to Tarshish, from before the face of the Lord.

The Lord’s face is mentioned twice. What had risen to the Lord’s face? It was the evil of the Ninevites. There was also something else that was before God’s face. Or rather, it was someone: Jonah. Picture this heavenly realm scene: there is the Lord, and before Him is both the wickedness of the Ninevites and Jonah. God turns Jonah’s attention to the wickedness that is there before Him. God is in essence saying, “Look, see the devastation that lies before Me. I am calling you into this work. You are to be my instrument, turning the evil to restoration.”

Imagine you are Jonah, in the presence of the Lord. God turns your eyes to the devastation that is before Him. God calls you into the redemption of this evil that has caused your people so much death, fear, and pain. How would you react? Would you be surprised, scared, or angry? No doubt it would be a complex combination of emotions. Jonah wanted revenge, not grace. So, he ran. The text says he ran away from before the face of the Lord, but what else was there? Nineveh. The evil of Nineveh was there. The thought of Nineveh repulsed Jonah, so he ran. By his running, Jonah separated himself from Nineveh and God. To run from Nineveh was to run from God’s call and God Himself.

Today, Jonah is typically scoffed because he physically ran away from God. How absurd, to think one can run away, escaping God! But that’s exactly what we do sometimes. We may not run physically, but we seek escape. I have come to the conclusion that I am more like Jonah than I would like to admit. When God turns my face towards what is in front of His face, I have not been consistent. There are times I have chosen to run, ignore, procrastinate, avoid, or otherwise seek escape. My prayer is that I would no longer be one who runs away, but one that runs to God, seeking His courage and heart. Then may I move forward, strengthened by His Spirit. Let us pray this prayer for one another. May we be a people who remain at the face of God.

Scriptures for this week:
Ephesians 1:3-10
Matthew 18:10-14
Matthew 18:15-20
Matthew 18:21-35
Jonah 3:10-4:4