Have you ever wished for one of the worst things possible to happen? I remember when I was in graduate school, walking through an icy parking lot with my mom and asking her, “Do you think that if I slipped on the ice and split my head open that I wouldn’t have to take my clinical biomechanics test tomorrow?” Yes, I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous now, but I would have wished for anything to happen just to get out of taking any of my tests. I also have prayed countless times to wake up sick- with a cold, the flu, a migraine- it didn’t really matter to me what the ailment was, as long as I could escape whatever it was that was happening the following day.

Maybe you haven’t been in my shoes where you prayed for sickness or to fall on the ice, but maybe you have wished for a snow day from school or for a meeting to be cancelled because you weren’t as prepared as you should have been. Maybe you have called in sick from work when you were actually feeling fine, or made up an excuse as to why you couldn’t hang out with someone, or avoided answering your cell phone when you saw who it was that was calling.

When it comes down to it, all of these thoughts or actions lead to escape. We want to escape those situations that put us in awkward positions, or that test us as individuals as to who we are and what we know. We want to escape those grueling days at work or school, to escape “small talk” with those who may not be our closest friends, and escape responsibilities and expectations.

Not too long ago, I was lying in bed and thinking about all of the things I needed to do the next day at work. I had ten kids on my schedule that I had to treat for an hour each, evaluations that I had to finish, daily progress notes that needed to be typed, Prior Authorizations that were due, and to top it off, I was supposed to be serial casting my 7am patient- something I have never done completely on my own. I remember thinking about all of these tasks and becoming completely overwhelmed to the point where I began to turn my prayer into, “God, please help me to be sick tomorrow.” At that point I reached over, flipped off the light, and buried myself in the covers, confident that I would wake up with a stomach ache or a stuffed up nose. However, before I drifted off to sleep, my thoughts drifted to the story of Jonah and how he was constantly trying to flee what was expected of him and ultimately, to flee God. I began to ask myself if that what I was trying to do. Was I trying to flee God and take the easy way out?”

Maybe obedience to God is not the central lesson of the book of Jonah as Mark Buchanan writes in the book, “Your God is Too Safe.” Maybe it is actually what dwells in Jonah’s heart. Buchanan writes about Jonah, “He’ll do whatever he must—obey, disobey, go to Nineveh, flee to Tarshish—to get God off his back. He’ll find the thing that God disrupts the least and do that….The last thing Jonah wants is the too soft, too hard God to get too close” (pg. 50). (I think Jonah would have gladly slipped on the ice to avoid taking a test.) How about you- are you worried that God will get too close to you? Perhaps you’re concerned that He will ask you to do what you least want to do…I know I am!

In high school I felt as though God was calling me to be a physical therapist and yet graduate school was the toughest three years of my life. I wanted to escape school and take the path of least resistance sooo badly, especially after finding out that I failed test after test. I wanted to escape the pressures of school, the constant and endless studying, and ultimately what God was asking me to do. It was foolish for me to wish for such awful things such as falling on the ice or to wake up sick. I wasn’t concerned at that time about what God wanted. I wanted to do things my way…and that did not involve placing myself in difficult situations. However, in those three years, God made it evident that He wasn’t going to let go of me and He wasn’t going to let me take the easy way out. I was not going to escape His grasp. Over time, I drew nearer to God as I learned to rely on Him, obey Him, and trust Him. Then, I wanted to get closer to God and for Him to get closer to me.

What is God calling you to do? Maybe he wants you to step out on a limb and make that proposal at your work meeting, talk to that annoying girl in your class, meet your friend for coffee when you’re tired and would rather stay home, or to go to work with a smile on your face do your best for Him. Whatever it is, don’t try to flee from God- from the story of Jonah, we know that doesn’t work anyway. It’s time to give up your own concerns and desires and to avoid the path of least resistance…but be prepared to find a God that is deeply concerned about you and that wants to get close to you. Are you ready to get close to Him?