Running away from God

Photo courtesy of Unsplash - Nicolas Picard

Photo courtesy of Unsplash - Simone Nespolo

Photo courtesy of Unsplash - Richard Loader

Have you ever felt that somehow God is speaking to you?

Maybe you have look around at the at the wonder of His creation. Maybe you were looking out over a panoramic view over mountains and lakes, saw the way a spider spins its web, a caterpillar moves or even the intricate insides of a delicate flower. Different things impress different people. For David the psalmist it was the magnificence of looking up into the heavens and gazing at the stars, it caused him to declare in Psalm 19, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God!’

God’s creation tells us of His very existence, God shouts out to us through His ‘handiwork’. In fact, Romans chapter one tells us that we can’t just remain undecided as to whether there is a God. We lie to ourselves if we say there is no God and God Himself says that this would be foolish.  It states that, ‘since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.’ So, God speaks to us through what He has made, He tells us that He is there. He speaks to us in different ways too. The Bible is often called God’s word. It is the very words of God, His messages, His instructions for us. Stop and think for a minute, if the Bible is what it says it is, God speaks to us every time we read the Bible.

He spoke to His people in the old testament and it came true! He told us The Lord Jesus Christ was coming and that came true too. The Psalmist states in Psalm 119, ‘The entirety of Your word is truth’

Sometimes God just speaks to us through our circumstances, or by the words of a Christian that is living closely with God. Often it is by all three together!

God wants to communicate with you!

In the book of Hebrews, we are told that God communicated in various ways and at various times to His people, but, ‘In these last days spoken to us by His Son.’

You will have heard the phrase actions speak louder than words. I could tell my wife I loved her over and over again, but if I humiliated her in public and criticised her in front of her friends, she would soon know that those words were hollow.

God’s words aren’t hollow, and they aren’t mere words. The way that God has spoken to us through His Son was to send Him to take our place and die for us. We are all sinners and we could do nothing about it. We deserved to be punished and we couldn’t escape.

Romans 5 tells us just that, ‘when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.’ This was the ultimate demonstration of love, if that doesn’t speak to us then nothing will.

God wants you to respond! What will you do with Jesus Christ. Will you trust Him, repent of your sins and know that you will see Him in Heaven one day? Or will you say ‘No!’ and reject the greatest Salvation you could ever know. How then will you escape?

God spoke to a man called Jonah one day. Jonah heard Him alright. He responded but the wrong way, he ran away. Well he tried to anyway. God wasn’t giving up on him. He sent a storm, he found himself in the deep ocean wrapped in the seaweed sinking to what he thought was his death. Oh, at that point he really wished he’d made the right choice. You can’t run away from God. He’s everywhere, we sometimes call this being omnipresent. The Psalmist knew this, he asked, ‘Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.’ You can not hide from God!

God was gracious to Jonah he sent the whale to swallow him and ultimately vomit him back to dry land, one more time to obey Him, one more opportunity to listen and react in the correct way.

God is giving you one more opportunity to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, so you will be saved.

Listen for the voice of God – Mary once said very wise words, she said, ‘Whatever He says to you do it.’ We would be wise to listen for God’s voice and obey it.

Written by Stuart Scammell for Messages with Meaning. Published by Your542day.