Wednesday Night Devotional - April 29th - Jared McCormick
Teachers
Lesson Summary
Jared McCormick taught a Wednesday night devotional exploring the opening chapters of the book of Jonah and the significance of Jonah's attempt to flee from God's presence. The teacher highlighted how Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh, a great city of evil, and call its people to repentance. However, instead of obeying, Jonah boarded a ship heading to Tarshish, attempting to escape God's presence. McCormick emphasized that this narrative reveals a profound misunderstanding on Jonah's part about God's nature. He explained that while modern Christians understand God to be omnipresent—present everywhere at all times—Jonah's worldview was shaped by the Old Testament cultural context in which each nation had its own regional gods. These gods were believed to have power only within their nation's territory. Therefore, Jonah may have reasoned that if he could travel to Tarshish, far from Israel, he could escape the presence of the God of Israel. The teacher used relatable contemporary examples, comparing Jonah's flight to children hiding from their parents to avoid responsibilities or consequences. Ultimately, McCormick's lesson illustrated that Jonah's attempt to flee revealed both a misunderstanding of God's omnipresence and a reluctance to accept God's calling, setting up the dramatic intervention that would follow in the narrative.
Key Scriptures
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid for the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.