A God Who Relents (Jonah 4:2)

 


Thursday, November 14, 2024


Psalm 34

Jonah 4

Revelation 4


A God Who Relents (Jonah 4:2)


The Bible is such a wonderfully inviting book. It speaks in such a way that, as a reader, one cannot help but be pulled into the story, such that in every page one finds oneself looking to see where they are. Jonah is no different – do you find yourself feeling a little bit like Jonah? When God calls you to do something you would rather not, doesn’t the book suddenly become about you? What about when you find yourself at the bottom of the depths, with seaweed wrapped around your head, aren’t you now the one crying out to God for release?


What about in this final chapter – are you walking around, telling everyone you meet about the God in heaven calling us back to his ways? Warning everyone about the big pit they are marching into, trying to rescue as many as possible?


Since we are reading this with our sword in one hand and our trowel in the other, it would seem the lesson is obvious: we should all be a bit more like Jonah, crying out to the world to repent, and learn to be happy when the baddies become goodies.


But we are not Jews living in ancient Israel. We are reading this thousands of years later on the other side of the world. If we are in this story, we are more like the Ninevites. We are the ones being called on to repent; we are the ones who need to put on sackcloth because, who knows, God might show mercy.


I’m sure that, under normal circumstances, the Ninevites would never have listened to a strange Jew rocking up in town and preaching doom and gloom. They had their own ways of doing things; their own people they trusted. And yet, somehow, they listened to Jonah, and their city was saved. As we know from elsewhere in the Bible, this saving faith comes not from within but from without; true repentance is a gift from God. Holy Spirit had supernaturally enhanced Jonah’s preaching and opened the hearts of the Ninevites to hear what he had to say. Who is going around our society today, calling on us to return to the Lord? Are they the type of people we would usually listen to? How do they compare to our usual spiritual guides? When Jonah arrives in our town, will we be ready to listen?


O God, you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Grant us hearts ready to hear when you send your people to call us back to you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Lord Was Moved (2 Chronicles 33:13)

Image
  Wednesday, August 28, 2024 Psalms 143; 146 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 Romans 15:14-21 Observance: Augustine of Hippo, bishop and teacher (d. 430) The Lord Was Moved (2 Chronicles 33:13) In our passage from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, the apostle is making a small break in his preaching to tell his audience that he is not telling them anything they do not already know. This is perfectly understandable if we recognise that this letter is a sort of fundraising appeal for his missionary work: the apostle wants to get on and start planting the gospel in places where Christ is not known, and so he gives the church in Rome a run-down on what his theology is, so that they will feel comfortable in supporting him financially. The fact that we have this fundraising appeal as part of inspired scripture can teach us something important: God wants us to keep being reminded of certain eternal truths. Reading through the story of King Manasseh can feel a bit same...
Read more

I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God.

  Friday, September 8, 2023 Psalms 20; 21 1 Kings 5 Acts 25:13-27 Observance: Birth of Mary, Mother of the Lord I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God. How big do you dream? Try this experiment on yourself: next time you are walking down the street, observe where your eye level sits. Do you watch your feet move around the cracks in the footpath? Do you do that trick where you stare blankly into the middle distance, so as to avoid making eye contact with passers-by? How do you think that relates to your spiritual aims, and the requests you make of God? Solomon dreamt big. He knew perfectly well that the God of his nation was also the God of the entire universe. No house would be entirely suitable, nor appropriate. But by golly he was going to give it a red-hot go. And just look at how much work he put into it: an entire nation of people were hired to provide the best timber on the planet. His own nation too was put to work, either a...
Read more

Marvellous? (Zechariah 8:6)

Image
  Wednesday, October 16, 2024 Psalm 105:1-22 Zechariah 7:1-8:8 1 Peter 1:18-2:3 Observance: Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, bishops and martyrs (d. 1555) Marvellous? (Zechariah 8:6) There are several phrases that, when we see them in the Bible, should make us sit up and pay attention. Anything to do with the “Day of the Lord” is one of them; another is when God speaks about when “they shall be my people and I shall be their God”. This second phrase, which, because of its frequency, risks becoming bland to our hearts, is so tremendously deep and rich in what it speaks of, is nothing less than the gospel of Jesus Christ. We remember way back in Genesis that God would walk through the Garden of Eden in the cool of the afternoon and speak with Adam and Eve about their day. One can imagine the scene: an enchanted place, a place with no evil, our first parents probably bouncing along, joyfully telling their loving Maker about all the wonderful things the...
Read more