The first time I ran away from home I was 13 years old. We were going to move so friend I went to school with wanted to spend one last day together having fun. So we ditched the last couple of classes. We didn’t do much, went to an arcade on Woodman Ave. Then we hung out a friend’s house. The next day we were all called into the principal’s office. I was terrified of my father and had asked to take the paddle instead of him calling my father. He called my father and I was too afraid to go home. I didn’t know where to go but I was too afraid to go home. My father was an angry man and he terrified me. I wandered around with a friend Wendy until she had to go home. Now a new fear took over where would I go? I had nowhere to go so I cried as I walked back home. It was not the home coming of the prodigal son, but I lived.
Life did not get much better after we moved. Oh we had all the physical comforts a nice home, plenty of food, but living in fear takes its toll on anyone. Never knowing when something you may do innocent or not is going to set off the volcanic anger of my father. I ran away again, and again. When I was close to turning 16 I had gotten into a fight with my father. I could not believe myself. Standing up to my father was something that you did not do. I was dragged and beaten into our home. I cussed at him for the first time in my life to his face. I tried to keep him from opening the closet where he kept a paddle He had made from a 1’x4′ and 2ft. long board that he used to spank me with. I failed. The board came out and I tried to hide behind my stepmother. He yelled at me and the board was used like a baseball bat and my head was the ball. I was down on my knees when he was about to swing again and I was literally saved by the bell. The phone rang and it stopped him. My step mother had done nothing, but what do you expect from a woman who has blamed you for all the problems of her marriage. Who said’ ‘If you didn’t exist I could be happy with your father.’ (Sorry I was a part of his life before she was.) After this incident I ran away again. This time I was not so quick to going back home. I bounced around from one friends couch to another. I even got my first job at Chuck E. Cheese, while still going to school. I managed to live like this for over a month until the school notified the authorities, No charges were brought against my father and thanks for a friend’s mother I did not have to return home for a while. Yet no matter how many times I left my father’s home and no matter the reason I kept returning.
So why I am I sharing a couple of my run away stories? They had come back to my mind and they made me think about people in the Bible who had run away and why. Hagar ran away when Sarah became jealous and hateful. David ran away when King Saul wanted to kill him. Elijah ran and hid in a cave when Jezebel was having God’s prophets killed. Jonah also tried to runaway when God had told him to go to Nineveh. All had their reasons to run. So this was one thing I had in common with these people. The other common ground I shared with them was we all returned.
Life is not easy for any of us. It is definitely harder for some than others. It can be even be terrifying. Of course life can be filled with joy and hope. I do not know what you may be running from and you may have a very good reason to do so but just like God met Hagar in the dessert and found Jonah in the sea. He can meet you where ever you are. Find hope in the One who will never hurt you, but who loves you unconditionally. Even if you run away from Him He will come to find you and He loves you unconditionally.
Look up scriptures on people who ran away in the Bible
Hagar – Genesis 16:6-9- (NKJV) So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. 7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” (Read Genesis chapter 16)
David – 1 Samuel 21:10 (NKJV) Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
1 Samuel 22:1 (NKJV) David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
Read 1 Samuel chapters 21-24
Elijah – 1 Kings 19:3-4 (NKJV) 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” 5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel[a] touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel[b] of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” (Read 1Kings chapter 9)
Jonah – Jonah 1:3 (NKJV) 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. (Read the book of Jonah)
Questions
Can you name of others in the Bible who ran away?
Have you ever run away?
If you did, did you return to what or where you ran from?
Are you running away from anyone or anything?
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