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Florence, Italy. Photo by Charles F. Stanley.
Daily Devotion

The Cost of Running From God

Even when God’s will seems unclear to us, we can choose to trust in His goodness and respond with faith.

Jonah 4:9-11

You would think a life-threatening storm and a few days in a fish’s belly would shake some sense into a person. Yet that wasn’t the case with Jonah. The final paragraphs of his story reveal a prophet who technically obeyed God but allowed his heart to remain on the run.

Jonah paid a high price for running from the Lord—he endured many physical, social, and emotional consequences for trying to ignore God’s instructions. But when those events were long past, Jonah still grappled with the spiritual cost of his flight. He lived with anger and a bitterness so strong that he begged God for the relief that death would bring.

As believers, we cannot disobey the Lord without paying a price. Perhaps you have a habit, a desire, or a current course of action that you know is against God’s will. Have you considered the cost? The Lord is holy and righteous, and tolerating sin is incompatible with who He is. What’s more, the price for following our own will is high, but if we obey the Lord, He will bless us (Deut. 5:33). We can trust in His love for His children, even if we don’t understand exactly what He’s calling us to do—or why.

Bible in One Year: Numbers 6-7