Good Luck Running Away

 I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick
(Ezekiel 34:16 NASB)

I ran away from home a few times when I was a child, but I was never successful. The first issue was my mom – she never noticed. She was used to me disappearing for hours on end in our big overgrown garden, so she never gave my disappearance a second thought. Secondly, I never got further than the bottom of the garden, because running away on my own was a non-starter; my dogs had to go with me. They were not allowed outside the garden walls, so my escape area was limited. . I usually ended up underneath an overgrown lilac bush in a hollow just big enough for a little girl and a couple of dogs to hide.

As evening fell and hunger pangs started, I would come to the conclusion that I could run away another day. The dogs also had no compunction about abandoning me and heading to the house for dinner; loyalty only went so far.

My reasons for running away were usually threefold. I was mad at my mom; she was so often unreasonable in my opinion, or she was mad at me because she thought I was being unreasonable (not obeying her because I knew better), or I had done something wrong and was hoping she wouldn’t notice, or if she did, my absence would give her time to calm down and she might even forget.

We do the same thing with God. We try to run away but are never successful. Unlike my mom, He does notice, and He keeps a watchful eye on us as we gallop off. If He keeps his eye on the sparrow, there can be no doubt He keeps an eye on us.

A number of Bible characters tried to run away from God, all with no success. One was Jonah. When God instructed him to go to Nineveh and warn the city of God’s impending judgement, Jonah hopped on a ship going in the opposite direction apparently under the impression that God would not notice. God did and Jonah’s escape had a fishy end. And, as always, God took care of His wayward prophet. Jonah got spewed out onto a beach and finished the job God had called him to do.

“But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:3; 17).

Elijah also tried running away. He plopped down next to a stream, threw a pity party, and asked God to kill him. God had other plans. He fed him, strengthened him, and got Elijah back on course.

“Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day, and sat down under a broom bush and prayed that he might die. “I’ve had enough,” he told the Lord. “Take away my life. I’ve got to die sometime, and it might as well be now” (1Kings 19:4 TLB)

Moral of the story? Do not try to run away from God. It is a fruitless exercise. Instead run towards Him. Take your troubles, pain, heartache, sins, and failings to Him. He came into this world for you. Ask Him to forgive and help you. He knows we are a work in progress. Every stumble is a learning experience and God uses each one to grow us more and more into the image of His Son.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10 NKJV)