Last week we left Jonah in a pile of whale puke on the beach. God spared his life for a reason, and here it is:
Jonah 3 (The Message)
Maybe God Will Change His Mind
1-2 Next, God spoke to Jonah a second time: "Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They're in a bad way and I can't ignore it any longer." 3 This time Jonah started off straight for Nineveh, obeying God's orders to the letter.
Nineveh was a big city, very big—it took three days to walk across it.
4 Jonah entered the city, went one day's walk and preached, "In forty days Nineveh will be smashed."
5The people of Nineveh listened, and trusted God. They proclaimed a citywide fast and dressed in burlap to show their repentance. Everyone did it—rich and poor, famous and obscure, leaders and followers.
6-9 When the message reached the king of Nineveh, he got up off his throne, threw down his royal robes, dressed in burlap, and sat down in the dirt. Then he issued a public proclamation throughout Nineveh, authorized by him and his leaders: "Not one drop of water, not one bite of food for man, woman, or animal, including your herds and flocks! Dress them all, both people and animals, in burlap, and send up a cry for help to God. Everyone must turn around, turn back from an evil life and the violent ways that stain their hands. Who knows? Maybe God will turn around and change his mind about us, quit being angry with us and let us live!"
10 God saw what they had done, that they had turned away from their evil lives. He did change his mind about them. What he said he would do to them he didn't do.
We don't get much insight as to why Jonah's message was so effective. Here is a huge city (took 3 days to walk across it) that is living in such a way that God was ready to unleash all fury on them. Whether it was what he said, how he said it or the voice of God speaking directly to their hearts, something broke in these people... to the last man! Can you imagine? From the king down to the lowest servants. The king went so far as to command every man and woman to repent of their evil doings and turn their lives around. He went so far as to command every man, woman, child and head of livestock to participate in a fast from both food and water. Did they have a promise from God that He would allow them to live if they changed their ways? All they had was hope. They didn't get anything in writing, only the hope that a God that was powerful enough to pound them into powder that could be carried away by the wind would be merciful enough to be moved by their repentance. This story is confirmation of God's promise in II Chronicles 7:14:
2 Chronicles 7:14
New Living Translation (NLT)
14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.
God was to a point that He was not going to allow the wickedness to go any further in Nineveh. He had seen enough and was ready to make them nothing but a memory. How much longer do you think that He will allow America to stand? I don't claim to be a prophet, or to be able to see into the future. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that our country is in a bad way.
Do you fear God? Do you allow yourself to think about the power and might He could rain down in judgement on this nation at any given moment for the wickedness at hand? Is this nation worth taking the time to REALLY stop what you are doing to pray? to fast? to seek God's mercy on a fallen people? to recognize my/your own part in the wickedness going on? to be grieved enough by what we see in ourselves to make change?
