The Runaway – The Reason We RunMuestra

Consequences?

What running looks like for us today is disobedience to God and the things of God. So, what are the consequences of disobeying God? 

Your disobedience leads to consequences that will affect others. This is the part where we don’t like to get into because we think that disobedience is an isolated event, but it isn’t. The decisions to disobey might have happened in a moment of isolation, but disobedience will affect others in your circle. It might only affect the person that is closest to you—your spouse, maybe your family, or your company—but your disobedience will affect others. 

The entire first chapter of the book of Jonah tells us there are people present that often do not draw attention to themselves. Jonah got on a boat with some sailors who had to throw their precious cargo over—cargo they had worked for. That’s a costly consequence because of Jonah. They approached Jonah and asked him to pray to his God. They asked Jonah for answers and became afraid. They called on the Lord, then picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea. They sacrificed to the Lord and made vows to the one true God. All of these things were a direct response because of Jonah being on their boat that day. The people in your life are on a boat with you. Your disobedience affects your loved ones, or your coworkers. The enemy will come and tell you, “Just do this one thing and no one will ever know.” That is the biggest lie that you can buy into, because it will affect others around you. 

Jonah is in the middle of the storm— a direct result of his disobedience to God. There is a big picture taking place here that we’ll get into later on, but know that when you and I go astray because of our disobedience, God often uses the consequences of a storm to wake us up—not to pay us back for our disobedience, but to move us in the right direction. This may mean that we go back to our prayer closet, crying out to God, not knowing how we got here and asking to be put back on track. There, we will be able to hear Him say, “Listen, I have a purpose, a destiny and a calling for you.” This makes the grace of God that much better because He raises us back up again, because of who He is, not of who we are.