The Hound of Heaven

In 1893, poet Francis Thompson wrote a poem called 'The Hound of Heaven'. It's a piece I often think of when I read through the beginning chapters of the book of Jonah.

God went to Jonah and gave him specific orders: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2)

God didn't ask Jonah. Nor was it a suggestion. And Jonah didn't have a sneaking suspicion that God was calling him to Nineveh. He had clear orders.

Jonah's response?

"I FLED Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him.."  (Excerpt from 'The Hound of Heaven) It's fascinating that Jonah didn't just ignore God. He literally fled. Perhaps he believed that he could hide from God. Or that if he fled, God would ask someone else instead. But God didn't lose sight of Jonah, and He didn't ask someone else. Like a hound out of Heaven, God was on Jonah's track. And He wasn't happy.  "He [Jonah] 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. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god."  (Jonah 1:3-5) "Now of that long pursuit         Comes on at hand the bruit;  That Voice is round me like a bursting sea" (Excerpt from 'The Hound of Heaven") Jonah's blatant disobedience endangered not only his own life, but the lives of the sailors aboard the ship. Yet in the midst of the storm, God showed Himself as Lord when each sailor cried out to his own god with no response.  What a beautiful reminder that God isn't limited by our disobedience. If He calls and we fail to hear, if He asks and we ignore, if He demands and we flee, there is reassurance that God can use it to bring Himself glory. Still, there's a cost.  3 days in the belly of a fish, perhaps??