Now, if God is who he says he is and we believe that God only wants the best for us, then why would any of us under any circumstance ever resist being committed to what God has called us to be or what God has called us to do? We ask that question why. Even while we ask it, all of us could probably point out at some time in our life when knowing the purpose of God, knowing the plan of God for our life, we deliberately, willfully resisted God.

Why would we do that? Well, I want us to look at the life of Jonah. In the life of Jonah is a perfect example of a man who knew what God was calling him to do and yet in spite of that resisted God’s call. Resisted what God was asking of him. And let me begin by simply asking you this. What is it that you know right now that God is requiring of you, but you’re holding him off? What is God challenging you to give up? What area of your life is he challenging you to alter? What relationship is he saying to you? Sever that. What matter in your business is

God challenging you to commit to him? Is it your wealth that he’s requiring of you to commit to him? Is it your faithfulness to him? What is it that God keeps bringing up to you? You see, if you really want to be obedient to God and you’re resisting him and your commitment, what happens is he keeps bringing this issue up.

You get down to pray, he brings it up. You get down to pray, he brings it up again. So, usually what we do, we either eventually deal with what God is bringing up or we cease to pray. You won’t keep praying, God, keep bringing it up. One of the two things will happen. You will deal with it or you’ll stop praying.

Well, let’s look at Jonah’s life for a moment. If you recall in the first chapter, the first verse, the scripture says, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Aiti, saying,”Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.” And so God has said to Jonah, “I want you to go to Nineveh, and I want you to say to them, thus sayeth the Lord.

” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarses from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Japa, found the ship which was going to Tarsus, paid the fair and went down into it to go with them to Tarses from the presence of the Lord. Listen, anytime you running from the presence of the Lord, you’re going down.