Neville Goddard on Jonah 1:3-4 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Jonah 1 in context

Scripture Focus

3But 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.

4But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

Jonah 1:3-4

Biblical Context

Jonah tries to flee from the LORD's presence by boarding a ship to Tarshish. A great wind and storm threaten the voyage, signaling a pull back toward divine instruction.

Neville's Inner Vision

Jonah's flight is a metaphor for the mind running from its own awareness. The LORD represents the I AM within; Tarshish is a dream of safety built on separation from that awareness. By paying the fare and going down into the ship, Jonah invests belief in an outward journey, as if separation could satisfy him. The gale and tempest are the inner weather of a consciousness resisting truth, threatening to 'break' the vessel of life. Neville teaches that you cannot outrun your own awareness; every storm is a thought-form born of resistance. To calm it, revise your state: acknowledge, 'I am in the presence of the LORD now; I am whole and unshaken,' and feel this truth as real. When you reinterpret the external scene as the projection of inner belief, the wind loses power. The true voyage is inward obedience—aligning consciousness with its source rather than chasing outward Tarshish.

Practice This Now

Assume you are already where you desire to be. Close your eyes, say, 'I am in the presence of the LORD now,' and feel the calm of that awareness. Hold the sensation until the imagined storm subsides and you rest in inner peace.