God told Jonah to go and preach to the people of Ninevah, but he went the opposite direction. He boarded a ship going to Tarshish.
The devil must be pleased when God’s people board their ships for Tarshish. We all have them. Every time there is the prompting of God to head a direction He tells us, the ship for Tarshish presents itself, just waiting for us to get on board.
Jonah’s reasons for getting on the ship to Tarshish included such things as fear, prejudice, pride, patriotism, laziness, and stubbornness. The devil will always furnish you with what you believe to be a reason.
We will find, as did Jonah, that the ride on the ship to Tarshish is not pleasant. There is a song that says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
We will have gone a long way toward victory over the deception of the ship to Tarshish, as soon as we realize that there will always be one to present itself, but that all awaits it is a stormy sea and a prepared judgement.
God gave Jonah another chance. He is the God of another chance. His mercies are new every morning.
