JONAH CHAPTER 1: RUNNING FROM GOD BECAUSE OF FEAR 

FEAR 

Jonah 1 presents a very specific type of fear.  It is not a fear of bats or bathing or peanut butter, but of something that all of us deal with from time to time if we take our faith in God seriously and seek to have an authentic relationship with Him.  It is something that the Prophet Jonah dealt with and no… it is not a fear of whales or large fish… though at the end of his ordeal described in the Book of Jonah he might have had that fear.  I looked in all the lists of phobias that I could find and I was surprised to find that the fear that Jonah experienced and that we often experience along with him does not have a name.  Something as common as this should have a name.   

So, I scientifically made one up! 

The fear that the Prophet Jonah experienced is what I will call “theolaleophobia.”   

Theolaleophobia comes from three words.  “Theo” means “God” “laleo” is the Greek word for “tell or told”; and “phobia” means “fear.”  So basically “theolaleophobia” is the fear of doing what God tells you to do.  That is the fear that Jonah experienced in Jonah chapter 1.  It was the force that caused him to run from God.  In fact, we will see in the Book of Jonah that Jonah did not overcome his fear, but succumbed to it and it ruined his life and his relationship with God. 

So, what is Jonah’s story?  Jonah’s story, at least at the beginning, has to do with God speaking to him and giving him a task, Jonah running in fear, sailing on a ship, and ending up as a tasty treat inside a huge fish’s breadbasket.   

I would like us to look between verses 2 and 3 because what happens between verses 2 and 3 is what all of us share with Jonah the prophet.  You see verses 1-2 record for us the “word of the Lord” coming to Jonah and explaining to him what God wanted him to do.  Verse 3 records for us Jonah running away.   

Between verses 2 and 3 we find Jonah’s fear. 

Between verses 2 and 3 we find a struggle within Jonah that each of us also shares. 

Between verses 2 and 3 we find Jonah afraid to do what God tells him to do. 

There is a key question as we think about this passage: What is something that God has asked you to do that causes you to fear? 

In Scripture, there are people that we should emulate and people that we should learn from.  Jonah falls in line with people like Cain, Samson, King Saul, Absalom, Judas Iscariot… whose lives are a beacon for us on what NOT to do.  They are present so we can avoid their mistakes. 

FEAR: WE JUST DON’T WANNA  

 Jonah just flat didn’t wanna do what God told him to do and he willfully disobeyed God.  This is where “theolaleophobia” comes out the strongest and can be seen even by casual observers of our lives.   

Nineveh was the capital city of an empire full of wicked people.  Even the Assyrian records bear witness that these were harsh and brutal people led by kings who acted in evil ways.  King Ashurnasirpal II says about himself and his armies:  “I stormed the mountain peaks and took them… I slaughtered them; with their blood, I dyed the mountain red like wool… I carried off their spoil and possessions.  The heads of their warriors I cut off, and I formed them into a pillar over against their city; their young men and their maidens burned in the fire!… I flayed all the chief men who had revolted and I covered the pillar with their skins, some I walled up with the pillar, some I impaled upon the pillar on stakes, and others I bound to stakes round about the pillar.” (J Finegan, Light from the Ancient Past, pg 170) 

You can see why perhaps Jonah had some issues and some fear when he received the instructions to minister to these wicked nasty evil horrible no-good people of Nineveh.  Perhaps he thought his skin might end up on the walls of the palace like others he had heard about.  He did not want to bring God’s message to Israel’s enemy… period.   

What did his fear lead him to? 

Stubbornness 

Hard-headedness 

Being bull-headed 

Apostasy 

Backsliding 

God calls it disobedience.   

FEAR: MOTIVATED BY THE UNKNOWN 

Jonah was perhaps afraid of the unknown.  He would or could have said something to God like, “I’m not sure I heard you right… you want me to go where… I’ve never done that before?!”  You see Jonah was a prophet who normally did his work among King Jeroboam II as we see in 2 Kings 14.  Jonah was having selective hearing when it came to what God told him to do because normally the prophets of God did not travel to foreign lands.  This was a gentile city full of wickedness… Jonah perhaps thought God had made a mistake or the Heavenly message was meant for someone else named Jonah.  Where God was asking him to go was unknown to him.   

The unknown is a powerful fear motivator in our lives.   

It has always been that way. 

The unknown should not stop us. 

FEAR: MOTIVATED BY INADEQUACY 

I also think that Jonah’s fear was motivated by a fear of being inadequate.  He would have said some things like: “Well God that is really far away and I have a real job here at home… I don’t think I can do it” “Well I don’t know their language or customs.” “I don’t have the money for that mission trip.”  I don’t know what inadequacies Jonah gave God, but he is in good company for those that offer God feelings of being inadequate when they clearly know what God wants them to do but are instead filled with fear.   

FEAR: MOTIVATED BY REJECTION 

Another possible motivator of Jonah’s fear in between verses 2 and 3 was rejection.  Rejection is a powerful motivator of fear and is perhaps even more powerful than the fear of the unknown or of inadequacy.  Just ask:  

… a prophet of the Lord who was commanded to go to Nineveh and bring a message from God. 

… any teenage boy to walk up to the girl of his dreams and tell her how he feels.   

… any employee who feels like they want to ask their boss for a promotion or a raise.   

… any business owner trying to entertain and get a new client and make new connections. 

… anyone who joins a new social club and has to meet new people. 

… any Christian who meets a new friend and wants to share the Gospel with them. 

When it comes to the Christian life and tasks that God gives us, the Bible is very clear that this potent motivator of fear… rejection… is an illusion.  You see, when people reject the faith we live out or offers of prayer on their behalf or the invitation to study the Bible with us… they are not rejecting us, but rather God.   

SUMMARY THOUGHTS 

I told you at the beginning that the fear that the Prophet Jonah experienced didn’t have a name, but we gave it one… “theolaleophobia.”  Jonah was afraid and he didn’t want to do what God had commanded him to do… in the end he disobeyed God.  Theolaleophobia in Jonah’s life was motivated by the unknown, inadequacy, and rejection. 

How did Jonah overcome this fear?  He didn’t.   

Jonah disobeyed God and ended up inside a huge fish.  Like I said before, Jonah and his story are present in Scripture for us to learn from and so that we do not repeat his mistakes and make the same damaging life choices.  If you take you relationship with God seriously, there will be things He asks us to do that will well up fear inside us.   

How do we overcome this fear? 

Keep God in sight. 

Trust that God uses our weaknesses and makes us strong. 

Know that they reject God and not us. 

TMB