So he paid the fare thereof

Jon 1:2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. Jon 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Good morning dear readers, I have found this after meditating on some decisions that I have to make, and this was a sermon that was preached at one time in my life so I thought that I would share it with you. You see God Word does not return void, this may not have applied in my life at the time, however if you stay diligent to listen to Gods Word it can be a help and a comfort in your life. Now Jonah was given a command of the Lord, and we see here that it was against a great and mighty city. Historically this city was in Assyria, and it was corrupted and wicked above all else. Now the Lord wishing that no man would perish even was willing to send this prophet unto to them that they might repent, however because like Jonah we are apt to get into the flesh we can learn a few things from him. Now we see that Jonah did indeed rise up, however in his first mistake he went the wrong way. Friends I know its hard to do some things that the Lord might have you to do, however the Lord said that He would not put anything on us that we couldn't bear. Secondly if the Lord is willing to use us, He most definitely will supply our need, and will bring us through. Now you may ask how do I know this? Well friend I will have to answer by the word Faith. Now if we can trust the Lord for our salvation, then most assuredly we can trust Him for our everyday needs? You see in the begging of this Jonahs problem was a heart problem for those wicked Assyrians, however most of the time our problem isn't a heart problem it is a faith problem. Now when Jonah decided to run he ran to a ship headed for Tarshish, which was directly opposite of the direction that the Lord had told him to go. Now if you read on there was a very profound statement that follows..so he paid the fare thereof. Now you say friend everybody has to pay a fare to ride on a ship, but I want you to look and see the true fare that Jonah paid for his disobedience, this can be found in the following versus and chapters. Not only did Jonah have a rough start, but I believe if he would have obeyed God at His first call then his life would have been blessed rather than him suffering for those three days. It hurts a lot sometimes my friend when there is a definite leading of the Lord to do whats right, however I do believe that if we would just humble ourselves and obey we would not have to pay the fare thereof of our mistakes in disobedience. Friend I hope this encourages you to trust and obey the Lord, for He has us in mind when there are decisions to be made, and above all else honor God by seeking His will first then all other things will fall into place. May God bless.