Savage2Saint Sobriety Feb 2, 2026

But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. - Jonah 1:3 (NLT).

One of the heaviest weights we can ever carry is the weight of knowing we have went in the opposite direction God wants us to go. It happens when we ignore the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in certain areas of our lives or when we try to hang on to old parts of our lives that God wants us to let go of. We all make mistakes, and that doesn't change just because we’re living for the Lord. Living for God comes with its challenges. It also comes with its mistakes. Sometimes we make the right choices and sometimes we don't.

Enter: Jonah. We’ve all heard the story of how Jonah was swallowed by the whale, but let’s take a closer look as to who Jonah was. Jonah was a man of God. A prophet. A preacher. A man given a mission by God, but Jonah didn't like the mission he was given or the direction God wanted him to go. So, like many of us have done in the past, or will eventually do one day, Jonah ignored God and went his own direction.

Now, I’m not trying to speak bad things over your life or promote your failure, but what happened to Jonah can happen to any of us. Let me say this, I believe Jonah was swallowed by an actual fish, but how many of us have decided to go our own way and ignored the Holy Spirit’s conviction, only to be swallowed up by the direction and the path we chose for ourselves, i.e., pride, fear, anxiety, addiction, depression, financial problems, loneliness, or even bad relationships. Regardless of what influenced the decision, we can find ourselves out of God’s will, and sometimes, spiraling out of control. So, how do we get back on track?

Enter: Jonah 2.0. The best part of the Jonah story isn’t that he got swallowed by a fish, or that he eventually went where God wanted him to and saved a town from destruction. Nope. The best part is when Jonah repented and cried out to the Lord, God immediately heard him and answered his prayer. Then the LORD ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach. Jonah 2:10 (NLT). The Lord then gave Jonah his marching orders again and Jonah obeyed. God is less interested with punishing you and more interested in getting you back in His will.

I’ve found, through my own mistakes, that the direction God wanted me to go was the best path for me, even though I couldn’t always see the outcome. It’s not always the easiest path, but He will never lead us astray because He promises to never leave or forsake us. God sees the whole picture, but it’s up to us to trust Him with our tomorrows. As we learned from Jonah, no matter how far we run from God, He’s always only a prayer away. He’s always listening. He’s always ready to dust us off and put us back on the right path. God bless.