God commissioned the prophet Jonah to deliver an important message. The message was designed to prevent judgment from falling on the city of Nineveh. But in a mixture of spiteful hatred and bitter vengeance, he decided that Nineveh was not worth saving. So he got in a boat and went the opposite direction.

There is a little Jonah in all of us. Maybe today you are thinking about an area of life where you’ve been turning a deaf ear to what God is telling you. You know what he wants you to do, but you’re resistant to it.

The result is anguish. If Jonah’s conscience was working at all, then maybe he did what we do when our consciences bother us. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, waiting for God’s wrath to catch up. 

God did catch up to him. But not with wrath.

“Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up” (Jonah 1:4).

God did not send this storm to get back at Jonah. This storm was designed to bring Jonah back.

When hardships enter your life, you might come to the conclusion that God is getting back at you for something you did. But your God doesn’t do that. Jesus’ death proves how far God was willing to go to reach runaways like you and me. He can use anything to bring you back.