| MY DEVOTIONAL FOR MAY 2003 Jonah chs 1 - 4 (if you want to read the passage please click here Before I begin I would like to give a brief introduction to Nineveh, the most important city in Assyria. Within 50 years Nineveh would become the capital of the enormous Assyrian empire. The prophet Nahum gives us some insight on Nineveh's wickedness when he states that Nineveh was guilty of:- 1. evil plots against God (Nahum 1:9) 2. exploitation of the helpless (Nahum 2:12) 3. cruelty in war (Nahum 2:12) 4. idolatry, prostitution and witchcraft (Nahum 3:4). To put it bluntly they were on the surface not very nice people to associate with and we need to bear this in mind when we contemplate Jonah's feelings, albeit non-Christian, with regard to them. When God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to tell them that, they too, could also receive mercy and forgiveness if they repented of their sins, he was so reluctant owing, not only, to his hatred of the Assyrians but also the issue of God's favour being given to non-Jews (Gentiles). At this time the Israelites were still not willing to share God's love and mercy with others, even though it was God's will for them to do so (Genesis 12:3). Jonah just could not come to terms with the fact that God could be prepared to show them mercy after all their wickedness over the years. It was as if Jonah would rather that the people of Ninevah be destroyed by God than given the chance to repent. Even today we, as Christians, need to reach out to those who have not yet come to know Christ as their Saviour and to show them their need to repent of their sins. As we ourselves know Jesus himself came to save those who were lost not those who had already come to accept him - in other words he had come to teach those who had not repented from their sins. We may not always get the response that we would like from non-Christians when we go out and witness in Christ's name, but as long as we have introduced them to the means of salvation there is not much else we can do but to leave it, then, in God's hands to work in their lives. It is not our place to judge whether a particular person or a group of people are worthy or not of receiving God's forgiveness. God loves and cares for each of us regardless of our background. Just as he forgave the people of Nineveh, he will forgive anyone who chooses to repent and turn to Him and when we do so He will care for and protect us in His loving arms. One interesting factor that was pointed out by Augustine of Hippo (Ad 354 - 430) was the time that Jonah spent inside the whale - i.e. three days. Augustine likened the situation as signifying Christ's resurrection from the depth of hell on the third day. Another view was that this could have been a means of shaming Israel into changing their behaviour when they were made aware that the Gentiles of Nineveh had repented of their sins after Jonah had preached to them. When the people showed remorse for their evil ways Jonah was very angry as, previously mentioned, he would rather see them destroyed. However pride did, unfortunately, have a place in Jonah's anger and he was more concerned about his warnings to Ninevah not coming true and the embarrassement to himself whereas he should have been pleased that they had turned to God. This also brings us to a question to ask ourselves and that is whether we are more interested in glorifying ourselves or God in our deeds. God could so easily have destroyed Jonah for his disobedience but he chose to teach him a lesson through this experience rather than to punish him God continues to watch over and protect us today, even at times when we may have turned away from Him - now surely that is a love worth knowing. I wonder how many times we have avoided doing God's will and gone completely in the opposite direction in order to suit our own needs or because it may be the easy option. We too can learn from Jonah's experience that we can't do God's will if we are running in the opposite direction and that there does come a time when we will need to pray earnestly from the heart to God as Jonah did. If Jonah had sat down and thought more seriously about his plight he would have realised that he too was a sinner and was the recipient of God's mercy and perhaps he would have felt differently about the people of Ninevah being in God's favour if he had taken the time to ponder more on this thought. Finally I would like to point out that today we are just as prone to judge others who we might describe as wicked or evil. We forget one very important factor when we entertain these thoughts and that is how God is more merciful than we could ever envisage. Even now he still has compassion for all sinners and is always planning ways of bringing them safely back to him no matter what they have done. So instead of criticising and putting down those who we consider as wicked surely we should be thinking of ways of introducing them to the wonderful experience of receiving God's mercy and forgiveness. Our job is to spread the word of God throughout the world and to leave the judging up to God and to God alone. |
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