The God Who Will Not Run Away – Jonah

Do you think God has a plan?
We say we do.
God knows what he is doing.
God has this sorted.

Then we look around
at census numbers,
churches rising and falling,
Christians persecuted in Nigeria,
the world refusing to behave
as we thought it should
and wonder:
Is this really going to plan?

Jonah receives the word of the Lord.
Go to Nineveh.
He hears God clearly.
He just does not like
what God is asking.
Nineveh.
The enemy.
The people Jonah wants judged,
not rescued.

So he buys a ticket
for Tarshish,
spending money
to run away
from the God
who made the sea.

We understand him.
We have our plans too.
Career.
Retirement.
Security.
Marriage.
Comfort.

We welcome God
provided he does not interfere
too much.
And perhaps our greatest fear
should not be that our plans fail,
but that they succeed
and turn out
not to have mattered.

Jonah runs.
God follows.
The wind rises.
The sea breaks open.
Storms have a way
of asking questions
calm weather lets us avoid.

What am I responsible for here?
What is my part?
Jonah knows.
Into the depths he goes.

And still
God does not abandon him.
Judgement,
then mercy.
A fish.
Grace
in an unexpected shape.
Because even when Jonah runs,
God will not run away from Jonah.

He sends him again.
Go to Nineveh.
This time Jonah goes.
Nineveh listens.
Nineveh repents.

And Jonah is furious.
Because mercy is beautiful
when it comes to us.
Less beautiful
when it comes
to people we dislike.
The difficult colleague.
The angry neighbour.
The person we have already decided
does not deserve grace.

Jonah sits outside the city
hoping for condemnation.
Jesus goes outside the city
to accomplish salvation.
Jonah waits
for his enemies to die.
Jesus dies
for his enemies.

And then a plant grows.
Jonah is pleased.
The plant dies.
Jonah is angry again.

What is the thing
God could give
or take away
that would make us angry?
Comfort?
Success?
Security?
The future
we thought we were owed?

Jonah ends
with a question:
Should I not care
about Nineveh?
Perhaps that question
still hangs over us.
God’s plan is larger
than our comfort,
his mercy wider
than our preferences,
his presence harder
to escape
than we imagine.

So perhaps the prayer
is not:
God,
bless the life
I have planned.
Perhaps it is:
God,
where are you sending me today?
Who have I avoided?
Where have I confused
comfort
with obedience?

The God of Jonah
is still sovereign.
Still gracious.
Still sending.
Still rescuing.
Still showing mercy
to people
we would never have chosen.

And still
refusing
to run away
from us.

Original message by Julian Yin
The Bridge Church Macquarie Park NSW
30 August 2026