Is it ok to run or do you have to pray first?

In Sunday School, I started teaching Jonah. Three weeks ago we did the first six verses. I encouraged the teens that although this is a familiar story, look for details that you never noticed before or for things that jump out at you this time around.

The thing that jumped out to me was the response of the sailors in verse 5. Now as any good Christian knows, when something bad happens, we are supposed to pray about it. "Cast all your care upon Him, for he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7, NKJV) However, maybe I'm alone in this, but when something bad happens, I want to call a friend to talk, go for a run or come up with a solution-my first response is not always prayer.

So back to the book of Jonah... As we know, God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh. He says, "heck no," and goes to Joppa where he gets on a boat headed for Tarshish. (If you're not up on your biblical geography, that means God told him to go east and instead he heads far, far west.) The boat sets sail and soon there after encounters a storm. Sailors are used to storms, but this one must have been pretty ferocious because they were scared.

What jumped out at me? the response of the scared sailors. The first thing they do is cry out to their gods. They don't go talk to a friend, they don't go for a run, they don't try to come up with a solution. They pray. Man, how convicting! These pagan sailors pray to their gods and those of us who know the one true God tend not to.

What about you? Is your first response to go to God when something happens?

Now to finish off the rest of the passage, after praying the sailors try tossing some things overboard. When that doesn't work, the captain gets Jonah and we ended with Jonah being looked to to offer some assistance by praying to his god.

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And a funny little tidbit to share...

After making the same point to the teens that I shared above, one of the 8th grade boys raised his hand to ask a question. "Well yea, but what if a murderer jumps out and is about to kill you? Is it ok to run or do you have to pray first?" The funny thing is, he genuinely wanted to know; it wasn't some hypothetical question he used just to get a laugh. So we discussed it for a bit and talked about praying without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17) -- pray for safety as you run... and if you are praying and reading your Bible in the mornings, you can ask Him not to send any murderers your way.