Jonah 3: 9-10 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them; and he did it not.
What a merciful and magnanimous God we worship Friends! The story of Jonah and the city of Nineveh is important in Jewish history. Some scholars even claim God used it to protect His chosen people from attack by their powerful neighbours, for it was over a century later that the Ninevites attacked Jerusalem. Anything’s possible with our God. Jesus mentioned it in Luke 11:30. ‘For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation.’ And in Vs.32, He claims that the Ninevites would condemn His generation for not listening to somebody greater than Jonah. Sadly, Jesus’ generation didn’t consider Him greater than Jonah. The story also shows God’s power at work in the lives of individuals, and His concern for groups of people, even heathens. The first time He told Jonah to go and warn the Ninevites about their evil ways, Jonah got scared, ran away, and ended up in the belly of a whale. Hn! Proving the dictum that you can run but you can’t hide, especially from God. When Jonah realized this, he prayed fervently to God from the whale’s stomach. And our God, being fair and just, with a great sense of humour, gave him a second chance. Oh Friends, I just had a hearty chuckle, cause it suddenly hit me, that I’d have been in hot water too, like Jonah, if I had not heeded His promptings to do this Scrip-Bit thing. Lord have mercy! Don’t know how He would have brought me to heel, but thankfully, I didn’t have to find out. Jonah had to learn the hard way though. The second time the Lord sent him to Nineveh, he obeyed without hesitation. By then his fear of God was greater than that of the Ninevites. He went bravely into the city, ‘and he cried, and said, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them.’ (Vs.4-5) Even the king participated, making the fast official by royal decree, instructing the people to curtail their wickedness. His reasoning? ‘Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not.’ And it worked. God saw their change of heart and relented. Note Friends, God didn’t change His intentions, it’s just that since they changed their attitude towards Him, He was able to show mercy. Yes people, our God is a God of second chances, and only threatens us with His wrath, uses extreme measures to get our attention, because we’re stubborn and hard headed. If we change, then He’s big enough to forgive and relent. Amos 7:3,6; Joel 2:14; Jeremiah 18:8; Exodus 32:14, are all examples of Him relenting or promising to relent if we change. What more does He have to do to get our attention eh Friends? Look at all the unexplainable tragedies occurring in our world. Shouldn’t we at least consider them possible warnings for the evil that dominates us and contemplate some improvement? Not by the world’s wisdom, so we continue our relentless spiral downwards, to Hades. But Friends it’s not too late. If, like Jonah and the Ninevites, we repent and amend our ways, the Lord will also gladly relent. Much LOVE!…only after death…is it ever too late to seek the Lord…
What a merciful and magnanimous God we worship Friends! The story of Jonah and the city of Nineveh is important in Jewish history. Some scholars even claim God used it to protect His chosen people from attack by their powerful neighbours, for it was over a century later that the Ninevites attacked Jerusalem. Anything’s possible with our God. Jesus mentioned it in Luke 11:30. ‘For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation.’ And in Vs.32, He claims that the Ninevites would condemn His generation for not listening to somebody greater than Jonah. Sadly, Jesus’ generation didn’t consider Him greater than Jonah. The story also shows God’s power at work in the lives of individuals, and His concern for groups of people, even heathens. The first time He told Jonah to go and warn the Ninevites about their evil ways, Jonah got scared, ran away, and ended up in the belly of a whale. Hn! Proving the dictum that you can run but you can’t hide, especially from God. When Jonah realized this, he prayed fervently to God from the whale’s stomach. And our God, being fair and just, with a great sense of humour, gave him a second chance. Oh Friends, I just had a hearty chuckle, cause it suddenly hit me, that I’d have been in hot water too, like Jonah, if I had not heeded His promptings to do this Scrip-Bit thing. Lord have mercy! Don’t know how He would have brought me to heel, but thankfully, I didn’t have to find out. Jonah had to learn the hard way though. The second time the Lord sent him to Nineveh, he obeyed without hesitation. By then his fear of God was greater than that of the Ninevites. He went bravely into the city, ‘and he cried, and said, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them.’ (Vs.4-5) Even the king participated, making the fast official by royal decree, instructing the people to curtail their wickedness. His reasoning? ‘Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not.’ And it worked. God saw their change of heart and relented. Note Friends, God didn’t change His intentions, it’s just that since they changed their attitude towards Him, He was able to show mercy. Yes people, our God is a God of second chances, and only threatens us with His wrath, uses extreme measures to get our attention, because we’re stubborn and hard headed. If we change, then He’s big enough to forgive and relent. Amos 7:3,6; Joel 2:14; Jeremiah 18:8; Exodus 32:14, are all examples of Him relenting or promising to relent if we change. What more does He have to do to get our attention eh Friends? Look at all the unexplainable tragedies occurring in our world. Shouldn’t we at least consider them possible warnings for the evil that dominates us and contemplate some improvement? Not by the world’s wisdom, so we continue our relentless spiral downwards, to Hades. But Friends it’s not too late. If, like Jonah and the Ninevites, we repent and amend our ways, the Lord will also gladly relent. Much LOVE!…only after death…is it ever too late to seek the Lord…
SCRIP-BITS 