Groceries cost a lot these days! We try to teach the girls the cost of things, and I had to say no to some of their requests at the store today (they’ll survive, I promise!🤣).
Sometimes the real cost of something is even harder to see though.
Jonah 1:3 says, “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.”
The real cost wasn’t the boat fare. It was missing out on the joy of being a part of what God was doing.
Jonah’s prejudice against the people of Nineveh made him hope for their destruction, not their salvation. That prejudice was based on some strong stuff (their military did awful things to those it captured…), but it led to Jonah’s disobeying God and missing out on the joy of seeing God mercifully save and change those people. Jonah got to be a part of it, but he never enjoyed any of it.
Maybe our own prejudice or bitterness is keeping us from the joy of being a part of the great work God is doing.
Usually we won’t be swallowed by a whale if we disobey God (hasn’t happened to me anyway!), but perhaps one of the highest costs of disobedience is missing out on the joy of being a part of what God is doing.