Runners

 For today's post, I thought it might be interesting to look at some Bible runaways. Maybe we will discover what they had in common.

First up is the first couple, aka Adam and Eve. Granted, they did not run far. They heard Jehovah God walking up and down in the garden of Eden at the breezy time of the day, but instead of rushing out to greet Him as usual, the man and his wife hid themselves among the trees. Previously, they'd enjoyed a friendly relationship with the Lord. Earlier, before the creation of his wife, "the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.'" (NAS, Genesis 3:16, 17) If you remember the story, the serpent deceived the woman, and she gave some fruit to her husband with her. Now this is the first time that they have heard God since they ate the forbidden fruit. So they hid. They ran because of a problem of a guilty conscience.

One generation and one chapter later, Cain is running off to Nod, east of Eden. Cain left the presence of the Lord because, after ignoring God's advice, he gave in to his emotions and committed fratricide. When the voice of his brother Abel's blood called out to the Lord from the ground, sticking around would have been awkward. He left because of a problem of conscience.

And then there is Jacob. This is a complex story where everyone in his family missed God at some point. But to hit the highlights, when his mother was pregnant, "The LORD said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.'"  (NAS Genesis 25:23) If disobeying God wasn't so serious, all the back and forth deception could have made a sidesplitting slapstick comedy. The father was guilty of trying to go against God's plan, the mother was guilty of deceptive scheming to make it happen, Jacob was guilty of going along with it, and his twin brother, although perhaps justifiably upset, was guilty of wanting to murder Jacob. Jacob took off for Haran, where he did get a hearty serving in his first course of comeuppance. He left because there'd been a consensus of conscience with his parents.   

It took a few years, but Jacob would still be getting his 'just desserts,' this time with a twist. Jacob's twelve sons grew to adulthood, but ten of them never liked their sibling Joseph because, although he'd heard the plan of the Lord, he'd been an in-your-face brat when he announced it. They were guilty of envy, hatred, callousness, and some displayed an intent to commit murder.  This time, the logistics of guilt en masse made it simpler to send Joseph off as a slave with the caravan traders than to stage a group flight, and besides, that way they could still enjoy their luxuries back at the homestead. All they had to do was keep Pops Jacob deceived, which they did with a bloody coat. So Joseph was sent off while the brothers stayed put because, although their consciences ought to have bothered them, they were able to override them. 

♦   ♦   ♦   ♦   ♦

Perhaps the best known flight-taker of the Bible was Jonah. He took off right after hearing the word of the Lord.

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.  (ESV Jonah 1:1-3)

His flight from the will of God put him in a pickle, or, more literally, a whale.  When you are in the belly of a whale, there are only two ways out. Neither option is especially pleasant. If you stay there, ultimately you will rot.

Eventually, and somewhat begrudgingly, Jonah went and delivered God's message to the Ninevites. But they repented and the Lord relented. Now that the great calamity that Jonah had just announced wasn't going to happen, Jonah sulked because — well, when you finally prophesy exactly what God told you to say and it doesn't happen, it makes you look bad. God understood and gave Jonah one day's worth of shade to get over it. When God comes back to check on him, Jonah retorts, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death."

KatieLyn, the runaway bride, and Jonah are alike in many ways beyond their brazen running from the plan of God. Jonah was also being narrow-minded and stubborn. He didn't want to talk about it. The story of Jonah ends abruptly with God asking him a question, "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh?"  It was a question designed to prick his conscience and get him thinking. God did not give Jonah additional information or revelation. God did not give him a next new assignment. God wanted Jonah to think about and walk in the light that he already had.