Pouting Prophet - Repentant Residents
| Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city--a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." (Jonah3:2-9) |
This time Jonah isn't running, he's doing what God asked, but not with a very happy heart. When we get to chapter 4 we'll see that he was dreading the thought that God might be merciful and he's angry about being part of that. His message is not gracious or gentle or respectful. (See Col4:6 & 1Pet3:15) He's callous and even vengeful: "In 40 days God is going to zap you!" (He even goes outside the city and waits for the fire and brimstone)
But the Ninevites do something unprecedented - they repent at a level that the Israelites have never repented!
- They believe God. (Even though His messenger has passive aggressive issues.)
- They fast in sackcloth and ashes - fortify their repentance with action.
- It's not only the superstitious rabble who believe, but even the king responds
- They formalise it through legislation - they take concrete steps.
God speaks to us about the junk in our lives... When He does, how do you react? May we be more like the Ninevites:
- That we take God's message seriously regardless of the messenger.
- That we don't just feel a pang of guilt and then move on, but that we actually mark the moment by taking a concrete action that cements our desire to change.
- We don't keep it in one corner of our lives, but involve those in our lives who are touched by the issue we are wrestling with.
- That we make ourselves accountable by putting change-processes in place and making them known.
I believe powerful change could happen in our lives if we did this.
