“And the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying ‘Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid you.’ So, Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the Word of the Lord. Now, Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And, Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey and he cried and said ‘Yet, 40 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 even to the least of them.”
Jonah 3:1-5
In every situation we should always remember “Nothing’s impossible with God” (Gen. 18:14; Jer. 32:27; Lk. 1:37).
God has a way of getting our attention, doesn’t He? We may not end up for three days and nights in the belly of a massive whale, but will still find ourselves at “Wit’s End Corner” (Ps. 107:27). The question is: “What will we do when we find ourselves there? Will we confess and repent? Or, will we continue to rebel?”
Hopefully, like Jonah, we’ll cry out to the Lord and then obey Him.
Interestingly, in Jonah’s prayer (2:1-9), there are no words of confession and repentance. He didn’t pray “Lord, I’m so sorry for trying to run away from You and putting those sailors’ lives in danger. I know I should have willingly and immediately obeyed You, but I didn’t. Thanks for giving me a second opportunity to do Your Will.”
No, no words of confession and repentance.
Interestingly, God didn’t seem to hold that against him and still instructed him to go warn the Ninevites. Sometimes we tend to pigeonhole God and try to cram Him into our own, tiny, tidy , little theological boxes, don’t we?
But, thankfully, He’s a merciful, longsuffering God Who’ll still use us in spite of us.
Nineveh was a large city for that day-and-age. It’s estimated it had a population of 120,000+ and was likely surrounded by a 40’-50’ tall wall over eight miles long. Located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River and across from the city of Mosul in modern-day Iraq, this Assyrian capital, founded by Nimrod, was noted for his cruelty and cultic worship of the Babylonian goddess, Ishtar.
That’s why their “believing God, proclaiming a fast and putting on sackcloth, from the greatest of them (the king—vv.6-9) to the least of them” was definitely a miracle from God! Glory!! And, dear Pilgrim, He can still do it today IF we’ll simply believe and surrender our lives to Him!
Again, there’s no situation or person too hard for His transforming Power! None! Whenever we pray, we must believe that He hears and will answer in His own way and time; it may not be exactly as we requested, but it’ll always be right and in accordance to His Will. Our responsibility is simply to obey Him where He’s working and praise/thank Him in all things (I Thess. 5:18). So, come join Him today, Pilgrim. The Lord’s wanting to do a miracle in/through you today.
January 25, 2012
