Wrong Way — A LifeWords Devotion

The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. (NLT)

Last century, when manned flight was in its infancy, a man named Corrigan made a big fuss of flying from New York to Los Angeles. Amidst much fanfare he was farewelled from New York, and great crowds gathered in Los Angeles to welcome him there.

But when Corrigan finally made landfall after his epic flight there was no one to greet him. Only a few bewildered farm labourers and townspeople near a small village in Ireland. By what he called an elementary navigational error he had managed to fly in exactly the opposite direction to that intended. So, he became known as “Wrong Way Corrigan”.

We may well call this Old Testament prophet, “Wrong Way Jonah”. Told to go East to Nineveh, he instead went West to Tarshish. When it came to disobedience, Jonah was not one for half measures! His was a case of refusing to carry out God’s assignment. Offered a job, he declined it.

As followers of Jesus, we are not in a position to pick and choose when to be obedient. True, God often invites us to obey him in ways that fit with our passions and talents, but he can give us all sorts of uncomfortable assignments too. And our negotiating power is not great. Discipleship is about accepting our given assignment, not demanding a better one.