2025-06-07_The Chase: Running into the Storm part 2

Published Jun 7, 2025, 5:00 AM

On today's Moody Presents with Mark Jobe, when God calls us to our purpose, our response can determine the beginning of our assignment or... the start of our running. The prophet Jonah received his task, but out of fear headed as fast as he could in the opposite direction... but God in His love stayed with him. Our series is titled, “The Chase: God’s Heart for Rebels”. Maybe you can relate to Jonah. Maybe God is clearly calling you to make needed, bold changes in your life. Are you listening... or are you running?

 

Sometimes we try all sorts of things to avoid listening to God's voice, and there can be consequences, but praise God that he chases us down. More from the Running Prophet Jonah today on Moody Presents.

It's the love of God. Compassion of God, mercy of God. It's the benevolence of God. It's God's incredible, unfailing love towards us that causes him to chase us because he has a purpose and a plan and a destiny for our lives.

Welcome to Moody Presents with Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. When God calls us to our purpose, our response can determine the beginning of our assignment or maybe the start of our running. The prophet Jonah received his task, but out of fear. Headed as fast as he could in the opposite direction. But God in his great love stayed with him. Our series is titled the Chase God's Heart for rebels. Maybe you can relate to Jonah. Maybe God is clearly calling you to make needed bold changes in your life. Are you listening? Or are you running with part two of running into the storm? Here's Mark Jobe on today's Moody Presents.

Some of you today are in the middle of a big storm. Not because you brought it on yourself, but because you love someone that is in the middle of the storm and they're sucking you into their chaos, and your life is in upheaval because you love them, and they're in a storm. And because they're in a storm, you're in a storm. And some of you are the causers of that storm. There are some people right now. You are the cause of the storm that your family's in. There are men right now that your children, your wife and your entire household are sucked into a vortex of violent storm and chaos because you are not living for God because you are following your own way and your entire family is suffering the consequences of your disobedience. Your children are feeling the splash of your running from God. Your wife is feeling the effect of your running from God. You don't think that they know and you think it's circumstances, but you have taken them to the middle of the storm. They're there, striving to survive because they're in your storm. There are addicts here that are running from God and choosing your addiction, because when you run from something, you always become addicted to something else. When you run from pain, you'll always find a way of medicating your hurt, and ultimately you will become addicted to whatever. Medicate your hurt, whether that's cocaine, heroin, an obsessive relationship with another woman, a compulsive workaholism, alcohol, pornography, whatever it may be. When you're running from pain, you always become addicted to something. As long as you're a runner, you become addicted to whatever makes you feel good for the moment. If you are living with an addict right now, you are sucked into the vortex of their storm. Some of you become enablers and you excuse them well, they're going to do better. They're going to, but they're living in your household, and the entire household is sucked into the storm of addiction. Did you choose it? No. You're being sucked into it because someone is running from God. These sailors that were on the boat had no idea that the storm was there because of Jonah, but because of Jonah's disobedience and running, everybody was in a storm with them. But I want you to notice where Jonah was. Keep reading in the passage. Where was Jonah? Anybody know? The Bible says, But Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, how can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Maybe. Maybe he will take notice of us so that he will not punish us. Hold on. Hold on. Time out. He was. Where? Now I've heard of deep sleep. And some of you have husbands that sleep pretty deep. I mean, you think they'd break in the house, smash the window? The house would be burned down and your husband would still be snoring. I mean, you tried to wake him up, push him, punch him, kick him, throw him off the bed. He turns over and snores again. So some of you, I get it, are deep sleepers. But to be in the middle of a storm where the boat is about to wreck and you're sleeping, that's not normal. That's not normal. Deep sleep. There's something going on there. Let me tell you what I think is going on. I think that when we're running from God, we try to shut out every reminder of our spiritual condition around us. We don't want to be reminded that God is chasing after us. We want to shut it down. When someone goes through deep depression, they don't want to wake up because waking up reminds them of how sad they are. So they sleep as long as they can. They can barely get out of bed. They pop another sleeping pill because when they wake up, if they've just broken up with a boyfriend, what strikes them as as soon as they open their eyes is the pain of the breakup of their boyfriend. So they want to sleep again because sleep is the only relief that they get. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Some of you have been through deep and powerful depression, where sleep was the only thing you wanted to do because waking up reminded you of the deep inner difficult pain that you were going through. America has a huge addiction to tranquilizers and sleeping pills, not because suddenly it's hard to sleep, but because we are so ravaged by our own pain and dysfunction that we look to escape from it and can't find sleep. Jonah was sleeping because he was running from God, and he wanted to block out every reminder that he was running from God. He didn't want to be reminded of his spiritual condition. He didn't want to wake up and think about the call of God and His disobedience. He wanted to numb himself, quiet it down so he wouldn't hear the voice of God speaking to him. If you're a runner today, I know that you try to block out the voice of God. Some of you barely made it to church because you're here, and if you're running, you don't want to hear God saying, follow me. Stop running. You don't want to turn on Christian radio because it may remind you. So you put up, you know, b96 as high as it goes. You don't want to have quiet time and be by yourself, because being by yourself means you have to think. And when you think, you're reminded that you're running. So you want people constantly around you. The television has to be on, the radio has to be blasting. You have to be on the computer doing something because silence reminds you of where you're at. It makes you think of who you are, and that inner voice inside starts to speak to you. You want friends constantly around you. You want noise. And so you don't go to sleep. You fall asleep when you're exhausted. You hit the pillow because you don't want lag time. You don't want to lay in bed and think about your life and where you're at. You're running from something. There's pain there. You live in constant chaos because quiet time makes you think, and thinking makes you sad, and sadness makes you depressed and makes you evaluate where you're at. So you are in running mode. Yeah. Listen, when you're running from God, praise be to God that he chases us. Some of you have tried to get away from God. I thank God that he pursues us with an aggressive, persistent, unfailing love.

God pursues with an unending love. Aren't you glad you're listening to Mark Jobe on Moody Presents? And the conclusion to today's message is coming up in just a moment. First, a quick reminder that this program can be heard again at Moody Presents Dot Oh. Moody presents. Hey, thank you for making moody presents a regular part of your listening schedule. We hope and pray that what you're hearing is helping you to grow in your walk with Christ, encouraging you to take that next step of faith in your life so you can find God's calling and purpose. Our monthly resource is titled How to Pray by R.A. Torrey. It's a great book. For more information and to hear this program again, head to Moody Presents. Moody presents.org. Well, the storm that you and I find ourselves in is often God's way of getting our attention right. It can also point us right to the very center of his plan with more. Here again is Mark Jobe on Moody Presents.

I've had conversations with people that have attended this church, and you decide because something happens and you're mad at God and you say, forget it. I'm going back to who I was. I'm going back to the old neighborhood. I'm going back to do everything. I'm done with this God Jesus church Bible stuff. I'm done. It's over. And you run back. You look for those old clothes that used to have. Put them back on. It's the party. Me now. I'm done with drinking coffee. I need something stronger. So now forget that little fellowship. Coffee stuff. Put the hard stuff on so you find the bar the darkest corner, the loudest music where you used to hang out. You go to that corner and you're down in some tequilas. Jack Daniels, whatever it is. Bud light, 3 or 4. You want to get buzzed high, you want to do everything. You take out the old words you used to use. You try to go to the old friends you used to have because you think, I'm going back. Here's the thing about if God has you, you can change geography, but you can't get God out of you. You can go to the bar, but the Holy Spirit goes with you. You can run to the old self, but you can never be the old self again. If the Holy Spirit indwells you, you cannot be who you were before. You have been radically changed by the power of the Spirit of God who will not get out of you. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. So I've had some of you tell me. I had one brother told me I ran away from God. I went to the bar, I was drinking, and then some guy comes and sits next to me and starts talking. And we start talking. He tells me how bad life is and he says, there I am running from God and I'm telling him what you need is Jesus. He's like, I'm in the middle of the bar and I can't run from it. The Bible says, though, I go to the deepest, darkest place in the sea, he is there. And when I go to the highest mountain, he is there. I cannot escape the omnipotent presence of this saturating God of the universe. I love that about God that he pursues us with an unending love. Jonah is being pursued by God. And he can't get away from God even though he's sleeping. He's trying to avoid the spiritual reality, but it's coming back to him. It leads me to my fourth point and last point. The storms are often God's tool to redirect our lives to the center of his plan. So Jonah wakes up finally. He goes up to the storm. The people. So they ask him, tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us. What did you do? They cast lots and God points him out. Where did you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? And Jonah says I'm a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. Jonah knows it's about him. And he's like, guys, you don't know I'm running from God. Not like little God, but big God. I'm running from the creator of the heavens and earth. I'm not running from some little local God. That's territorial. That's just a statue or some image. I'm running from the creator of heaven and earth, the omnipotent, who always was and always will be, the eternal God of the universe, who breathed and life came, who spoke and separated the light from the darkness. I'm running from the God who you can't run from. I'm running from the God that is omniscient and omnipresent, omnipotent, sovereign in all of his majesty. Guys, sorry to tell you, I'm running from the big guy. The biggest guy. So they said, no worry, we'll try to save you. The Bible says instead, these men did their best to row back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord because he just told them who this God was. And so they cried out to this God. These are pagan sailors crying out to the God of the universe, saying, please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man. For you, Lord, have done as you please. And then they took Jonah and they threw him overboard. I love that you know what I love about this. Is that some of you are in the middle of a storm right now, and you think it's the worst thing that happened to your life, but it's really the best thing that happened to your life, because sometimes your storm is what God uses to redirect you back to the center of his will. God speaks. You don't listen. God shakes. You barely listen. God shakes harder. You start listening a little bit. God shakes hard enough. And then suddenly, in the middle of your storm, you say, oh God, oh, God. Aha! Finally, I got your attention. Jonah. Even in the middle of the storm, was not turning to God. Now the sailors are carrying him one, two, three, throwing him overboard into the storm. And he's still not calling out to God. Sometimes you can be so hard and heart so stubborn in your life that God has to bring about a mega storm in your life to try to shake you up so much. So finally, you awake to God and realize I need God in my life. I cannot fight the sovereign God of the universe. I need to repent. I need to humble myself. I need to turn to him. This is what makes this story so compelling. And this is why little children's books have the story of Jonah and the whale. Because as they hurl Jonah over the overboard, you think the story is done? He's dead. It's the end of Jonah. He'll wash up on some shore with a bloated body and seaweed on his hair, thinking, oh, there's the dead prophet. But no, the Bible says that God provided a huge mammal of a fish. I don't a whale. It may be an extinct species. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was a huge one. And the Bible says that that whale swallowed Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. I can just imagine what he's going through. Little tuna floating around here. Seaweed and other fish there. It's going into the deep dark acids of the whale stomach, turning his skin whiter than it was. Thinking I'm going to die. Digested. Finally, in the midst of his most darkest, brutal moment, he finally decides I better pray. As soon as he prays, the whale spits him up on shore. Guess which shore? The shores of Nineveh. Hey, listen, you can try to run from God, but it's just a detour before God catches up. And you're going to prolong your journey, but not change your destination. Because God is bigger than your stubbornness. And I want you to know this. Listen, here's what I want you to know that God was not chasing Jonah because he was mad at Jonah. God was not chasing Jonah to punish him. God was chasing Jonah because he loved him. God was chasing Jonah full of grace, full of mercy, full of second chances, full of compassion. God was chasing Jonah for his good. That's the powerful love of God. I heard a story. This happened quite a few years ago of a man that stole a vehicle in California, and the police were aggressively chasing the stolen vehicle. Not because it was a stolen vehicle, because that happens all the time, but because the owner of the vehicle said, I had a box of crackers in this passenger seat that I had laced with poison, because I was going to put it around a warehouse that I had to kill rats. If this man eats those crackers, he will die. So the police were chasing after him. They even put it on the radio saying, if you stole this vehicle, please return it. The man did not know that the police were chasing him to save his life. He thought they were chasing him to punish him and put him in jail, but they were really aggressively mobilizing all their forces to try to save his life from death and poisoning. He did not know it. Some of us are like that with God. God is chasing us, pursuing us, convicting us, taking us through a storm, shaking our lives to its degree so that we're saying, God, why are you mad at me? Why are you against me? Why are you punishing me without understanding that it's the love of God, compassion of God, mercy of God. It's the benevolence of God. It's God's incredible, unfailing love towards us that causes him to chase us because he has a purpose and a plan and a destiny for our lives.

Well, here on Moody Presents, we have reached the point in the story where Jonah has been swallowed up by the great fish. Even so, God was faithful. faithful to Jonah as he is faithful to us. Here's student led worship at President's Chapel reminding us of that powerful truth. Listen to these moody students.

All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am made. I will sing of the goodness of God. All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am made. I will sing of the goodness of God. Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God.

And oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise his name forever. More forever. Days we will sing your praise. Oh Lord, oh Lord our God. Oh praise the name of the Lord our God.

Oh praise his name forever more. For endless days we will sing your praise. Oh Lord, oh Lord our God. Sings my soul. My Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul. My Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul. My Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. The.

Moody Bible Institute students leading in worship. What an experience to be there. You know, you've got to join us on campus someday for chapel. Hey, we'd love for you to stop by our website. Moody presents Dot where you can pick up a copy of our monthly resource, How to Pray by RA Tory. You'll love the way this little book can help empower your prayer life. You can also call to find out more at 800 470 22. And again, our website where you can hear this program or other parts of our series from Jonah is Moody. Moody presents dot. I'm John Geiger inviting you to join us next week. In the belly of the whale. Moody presents is a production of Moody Radio and the ministry of Moody Bible Institute.

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