Disobedience Has a Price Tag

“Arise, go. . .” “But Jonah rose up to flee. . .” Jonah 1:2a, 3a

This sentence rang out a clear message during Sunday’s Bible study: “Jonah had to pay for his disobedience.” But the price he paid was more than a boat ride. Sin is costly and affects us significantly, but also others around us.

God gave His prophet instructions, but instead of obeying, Jonah paid the fare to go in the opposite direction from Nineveh. He was unprepared for the high cost of fleeing God’s presence when he boarded the ship: His disobedience cost the sailors the loss of their cargo and equipment, and at Jonah’s insistence, they had to throw him overboard to save themselves. Even though that action caused them to acknowledge Jonah’s God, did they ever recover from the guilt of that experience?

Jonah went down to Joppa to find a ship headed for Tarshish and went down into the boat. The sailors threw the prophet out of the ship, and he went down into the water, where a great fish “downed” him. He was in the fish’s belly three days and three nights, down at the mountains’ base at the bottom of the sea. Down, down, down—the more determined someone is to go from God’s presence, the farther down they go. But God has a way of getting our attention, doesn’t He? Sometimes we must hit “rock bottom” before we look up.

It wasn’t until Jonah’s “soul fainted within him” that he remembered the Lord and cried out to Him (2:7). At God’s command, the fish obediently vomited Jonah out onto dry land. God repeated His instructions to Jonah (Aren't you thankful for God's do-overs?"); this time, Jonah obeyed, although grudgingly. Thousands of Ninevites came to know the One True Living God, and 120,000 innocent children escaped death. He, who received God’s mercy, reluctantly preached repentance to Israel’s enemy and was angry that God showed mercy, sparing them when they repented. Jonah’s story ends with God confronting him about his pity for a plant that died, without concern for the thousands of souls that would have perished and gone to hell.

Jonah wanted his way and lacked concern and mercy for Nineveh’s people, but how do his actions differ from ours? Do we not want God to punish wicked people? We also have to “pay” when we don’t get our way and try to run from God. How often do people show more grief over a pet that died than their family and friends without Christ destined for hell? No one is without sin (Rom 3:23). Thank God He deals mercifully with us as He did Jonah, confronting us with our sins so we can get right with Him.