INTRODUCTION

You know God wants you to do one thing... make a particular decision... move in a certain direction. But you resist and do the opposite... run the other way. Jonah resisted and found himself in the belly of a fish. Where has your resistance taken you?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Did you ever run away from home as a child? What happened?
   
   
2. As you look back, describe a point in your life when you were "running" in a direction away from God?
   
   
3. Why do people run away from God? What is it about God's reputation that causes many people to run away rather than to him?
   
   
4. Read Jonah 1-2:1. Jonah seemed to be the last person in the boat to recognize the chaos going on around him. How often is it that those who are running are the last to connect their choices to the chaos in their lives?
   
   
5. Why is it that many people view difficulties in their lives as a way of God paying them back? How might those hardships be a way of God not paying them back... but bringing them back?
   
   
6. In what areas in your life are you currently running away from God? Are you experiencing any "storms" as a result? What is stopping you from taking off your running shoes and kneeling to find a God that's been waiting for you to come back?
   
   

MOVING FORWARD

Here's the bottom line: you can run from God, but you can't outrun God. God demonstrates the kind of love that the Bible describes as steadfast. It's the kind of love that waits for you however long it takes. It's the kind of love that cares enough to discipline you, not to pay you back, but to bring you back. So let that sink in for a little bit. Because next time, we'll consider actually doing something about it.

CHANGING YOUR MIND

My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
Proverbs 3:11-12