Daily Thoughts from Jonah: God May Turn (Jonah 3)

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

   The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

   When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.  (Jonah 3 ESV)

This is what Jonah was afraid of.  In obedience, finally, to God’s command to preach judgment to Nineveh, Jonah tells them that they only have 40 days left before being overthrown.  But he realizes that this is a warning from God that implies a chance to repent.

And repent they do, from the least to the greatest, including the king, who proclaims a fast and requires calling on Yahweh and turning from evil in hopes of a reprieve.  This is perhaps the greatest revival ever seen.  No doubt God’s Spirit is at work in the hearts of these people.  And God relented.  The desired repentance was in evidence and He stopped the clock on disaster.

God would have been just in destroying Nineveh, and years later when they backslide from this change of heart He does destroy them using the Babylonian empire to do it.  But God delights to show mercy.  He does not desire the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23).  However, He will not put up with it forever.  So many depict the God of the Old Testament as full of judgment, anger and spite, but the truth is just the opposite, and Jonah knows it.  He saw it firsthand and as we will see, he is upset about it.

Do we believe in the love and compassion of God, a compassion that makes effort to warn the rebellious and so quickly forgives them when they repent?  Do we believe He is capable and even desirous of bringing about a revival of faith in our own midst like He did at Nineveh?  If so, are we preaching the truth and warning our communities of the consequences of injustice and violence?  Are we turning from our evil ways and the violence that is in our hands?  Maybe the violence is only in our hearts at this point.