If you’ve ever tried to ignore the Lord’s commands or silence the Holy Spirit’s conviction, you’ve probably learned the same lesson Jonah did. He disliked God’s instructions and attempted to avoid the unwanted assignment by running away. But He soon discovered that you can never outrun God.

Rebellion toward our heavenly Father often takes one of two forms: a bold outright refusal to obey His instructions or a more passive approach of quietly pursuing our own agenda while disregarding biblical commands we don’t like. Whichever route we take, we can’t silence God. His Spirit’s conviction will follow us—even if we fill life with distractions to help us ignore Him.

What we must understand is that God is willing to pursue us, and that can involve stripping away diversions and bringing negative consequences to get our attention. He is a loving heavenly Father who disciplines us if we continue down the road of disobedience. 

The Lord is always with you, but whether your relationship feels tense or peaceful depends on your willingness to do what He says. Let’s use Jonah’s example as encouragement to obey promptly rather than waste time running away and suffering the consequences.