Most of us at some point in our lives have tried to run away. It might have been as a young child trying to run away from home because your parents told you "No." However, you usually returned home before dark or by meal time. Others have tried to run away from an embarrassing situation. Whatever the stiuation, you didn't want to see or face any of the people who might have seen the situation unfold in your life. Occasionally, someone tries to run away from a responsibility. Maybe the person has become overwhelmed by a task or job or maybe they just feel inadequate to complete the task. Running away might seem like the easier way out than having to confess an inability to carry out the responsibility.
Obviously, those examples could multiply in large numbers by just considering all the ways that people have chosen to run away. But here is the real question: "How far can you run away until you have run full circle and are right back at the situation that caused you to run away?"
Perhaps the best illustration of attempting to run away is found in the Bible in the Old Testament book of Jonah. In Jonah 1:1-3, the stage is set and the account of Jonah's attempt to run away from the presence of God begins.
"The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Get up!
Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because
their wickedness has confronted Me.' However, Jonah got up to
flee to Tarshish from the Lord's presence. He went down to
Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare
and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, from the
Lord's presence."
If you are familiar with the story of Jonah, you know that his attempt to flee from God was futile. If you do not know the story of Jonah, I encourage you to open a Bible and read the entire 4 short chapters in the book of Jonah. What the account of Jonah reveals is that no matter where you try to run or hide, God already knows where you are and will pursue you to get you to do what is right (His perfect will and purpose). David, who was King of Israel and also a writer of many of the Psalms in the Bible, recognized that a person cannot run away or hide from God. Psalm 139:7-12 give us David's understanding of trying to flee from God.
'Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you."
At this point it would be easy for any of us to say that we are not trying to run away from God, rather I am trying to get away from a terrible boss or a responsibility that I just can't fulfill. The truth is that regardless of how we try to define our problem or situation we need to face it, and then work through it.
One of those random thoughts that goes through my brain from time to time involves this very issue. Picture the fact that we live on a planet that is a sphere. Go far enough in any chosen direction and you will eventually wind up where you started. So when you try to run away from a problem, a person, a responsibility, or even from God, you are also running toward the same.
Again David had a clear understanding of life and the various things that we really don't want to face or work through. At the highest level, David wrote a very thoughtful and powerful piece that we have named the Twenty-third Psalm. One particular line always reminds me that I am not alone in facing any and all circumstances of life.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You
are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."
Psalm 23:4
Whether my situation is like that of Jonah not wanting to do what God had asked of him, or whether it is a conflict with another person or the inability to fulfill a commitment, I am not alone in facing the conflict. The Bible reminds us frequently that God is with us as we go through both the best and worst that life puts before us. So, before you try to follow the example of Jonah and run away, a better option would be to trust in God and let Him walk with you and guide you through to the best solution.
Remember that running away will eventually bring you right back to the same or similar problem. At the simplest of illustrations, running away from cleaning your room or doing your chores most likely brought you back to having a room that you still needed to clean and chores that still needed to be done. What are you facing today that you need to trust God to lead you through and forget about trying to run away?
Have a good week of facing life as God walks by your side.
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