Gone AWOL?

“He’s gone AWOL.”  The military term, meaning Absent Without Leave, is part of our language now. The short story of Jonah starts with this arresting sentence: "Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD." (Jonah 1:3, NIV)   Asked by God to go preach to a pagan city that he really wanted to see destroyed, Jonah went AWOL!  He found a ship headed in the exact opposite direction.  You know the rest of that story – God arrested him, changed him, and sent him to serve.

Ever gone AWOL, perhaps not from your military unit, but from your family, your church, or from God Himself?  There are many reasons people run from God.  Sometimes like Jonah, we come to think that God is unfair or perhaps even wrong,  so we run off on our own way.  Sometimes we grow fearful like the disciples on the night that Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane and we take off into the dark.  Sometimes we let distractions take the place of love and like Demas of whom Paul wrote, “he loved this present world,”  we go our own way.  

Jesus spoke of being the Bread of Life.  He told the crowds of people who loved his miracles and the free lunches that there was more to following him than that. He called them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It was a powerful way to tell them that if they wanted to know him and serve him, they would be required to trust him for their very life sustenance!  It was hard, uncompromising.  What happened?  "After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”   I love Peter’s commitment, though we know that at that moment he was speaking without being tested.  Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”  (John 6:66-69, The Message)  Peter did end up AWOL for a short time after the Cross, but Jesus found him, arrested him, and sent him to serve – which he did to the day of his own death.

“Master, to whom would we go?” are words that we need to think through.
If you run away from the LORD, what are you running to? What do you hope to find there? Will it (he, she) satisfy and keep you in the same way that Jesus does?

Thinking about going AWOL?  Doubting, fearful, distracted?  Consider these passages about running TO God, not FROM Him.

"God! God! I am running to you for dear life; the chase is wild." (Psalm 7:1, The Message)

"God is bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag where I run for dear life, hiding behind the boulders, safe in the granite hideout." (Psalm 18:2, The Message)

"How exquisite your love, O God! How eager we are to run under your wings, " (Psalm 36:7, The Message)

"Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6:11-12, The Message)

Jesus will come and with Him comes the life beyond temptation, fear, and sorrow for which we long.   Here’s the word from the Word. "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name." (Revelation 3:10-12, NIV)

“Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of Life!”

__________

Lord I Need You
(listen on this link)

Lord, I come, I confess;

Bowing here, I find my rest,

And without You I fall apart.

You're the one that guides my heart.

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You.

Ev'ry hour I need You.

My one defense, my righteousness,

Oh God, how I need You.

Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more.

Where grace is found is where You are.

And where You are, Lord, I am free,

Holiness is Christ in me.

Where You are Lord, I am free,

Holiness is Christ in me.

So teach my song to rise to You,

When temptation comes my way.

And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You,

Jesus, You're my hope and stay.

And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You,

Jesus, You're my hope and stay.

Christy Nockels | Daniel Carson | Jesse Reeves | Kristian Stanfill | Matt Maher

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