Jonah 1 Following Jesus When You’d Rather Run AwaySample

Even in our Running, God is Still Redeeming

In today’s scripture, we see the crew members make vows to serve God. They were in awe when they saw God’s response to their cry, and it moved them to worship in awestruck wonder.

One of the things I love about God is that even in our running, He never stops redeeming. Many scholars believe that based on the way verse 16 is written, the mariners received salvation that day–meaning that God used Jonah's running to run after the crew members too. This should give us some hope to hold onto today knowing that God could have, has, or is in the process of saving some sailors along the way.

Even when we run, He is still Redeemer. Jonah never saw these men make their sacrifices and vow to God because he was already in the ocean. Let’s believe today that when we get to heaven, we will hear some stories of God using our messes to draw people to Him, too.

• Where in your life are you desperate for God to come through?
• Are you crying out to Him believing that He is a God, who inclines His ear to your cry?
• What can we learn about people coming to know Jesus through the crew members’ experience?
• Why do you think they chose to follow God?