Spurgeon: February PM
* 02/25/PM
"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of
the Lord, and went down to Joppa."
--Jonah 1:3
Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade
him, Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape
from it. There are occasions when God's servants shrink from
duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his
conduct? He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of
God's love . When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers should
do, our God is with us; and though we have the whole world
against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the
moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at sea
without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, "O
my God, where hast Thou gone? How could I have been so foolish
as to shun Thy service, and in this way to lose all the bright
shinings of Thy face? This is a price too high. Let me return to
my allegiance, that I may rejoice in Thy presence." In the next
place, Jonah lost all peace of mind . Sin soon destroys a
believer's comfort. It is the poisonous upas tree, from whose
leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and
peace. Jonah lost everything upon which he might have drawn
for comfort in any other case . He could not plead the promise
of divine protection, for he was not in God's ways; he could not
say, "Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the discharge of
my duty, therefore help me through them." He was reaping his own
deeds; he was filled with his own ways. Christian, do not play
the Jonah, unless you wish to have all the waves and the billows
rolling over your head. You will find in the long run that it is
far harder to shun the work and will of God than to at once
yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time , for he had to go
to Tarshish after all. It is hard to contend with God; let us
yield ourselves at once.