A secret agent was commanded to go to a certain foreign city on a most unusual assignment. He was to warn the people of a coming catastrophe. But instead, he became a man on the run.
This capital city on the eastern bank of a river sat in the heartland of earthquake territory. Its 120,000 inhabitants were a proud people, but they were also ruthless, corrupt and barbaric. They were the terrifying enemy of the man’s own nation, and would often make raids on his people, raping and pillaging every town in their path.
The man knew of the violence in this city and figured the people were so bad, they didn’t deserve to hear the warning of the pending disaster. Let them die, They deserve it, he scoffed.
Because there was nothing appealing about his assignment or the people to whom he was to deliver the warning, he secretly decided to forgo his mission altogether. He boarded a ship bound for another city several hundred miles away. He was a man on the run. I’ll go back when the disaster is over and see their destruction, he thought.
A raging storm ~
But a raging storm arose on the high seas, and all on board were about to die, including the secret agent. But then, the man on the run was rescued. He had no choice but to go with his rescuer. He spent three miserable days before he was finally brought safely to land – disheveled and hungry, but alive. The man then realized he was brought to the beach of the very city from which he had fled.
His commander told him a second time to go into the city and warn the people. No court martial for disobeying orders; no dock in pay, no reprimand, just the words of his commander, “Go into the city and warn the people.” “But you’re only going to show them mercy,” the secret agent protested. When his commander did not respond, the man on the run sullenly obeyed.
For three days, the man wandered through the city telling the people of the coming destruction. He even told the king. He spoke matter-of-factly; not with the urgency one would expect in the face of a coming catastrophe.
To his chagrin, the people listened!
Everyone from the king to the lowliest heeded the warning and turned from their wicked ways, and destruction was averted.
You probably recognize the Biblical story from the book of Jonah. Jonah was the man on the run, God was the Commander, and Nineveh was the city of wicked people. What a testimony of God’s immeasurable mercy to an undeserving people, and the lengths He will go through to show His grace and mercy!
Are we any different today than Jonah? Don’t we, at times, disobey God when He tells us through His Word to do certain tasks – the foremost of which is to love him above all else, and the second is to love others as He loves them. We can run, as Jonah tried to do, but there is no place to hide. Jeremiah 23:24 says, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord.
Sometimes we’re the man on the run; sometimes we’re the undeserving people, but it is the same God who calls us to obedience and the same God who rescues us from destruction.