The God of Second Chances
If God has called you to do something and you’ve found yourself hesitating or even running like Jonah did, He not only wants to do something through you, he wants to do something in you. He wants to grow your faith. He wants to help you come to a greater understanding of his goodness and his great love for you. Maybe he’s trying to help you understand in a deeper way just how much you need him. Whatever it is, God is not giving up on you.
It really shouldn’t surprise us that God gave Jonah a second chance. It’s just part of his nature. He longs to forgive. He seeks to redeem and reconcile. It shouldn’t have surprised Jonah, either. Jonah knew how many second chances God had given the nation of Israel. Time after time we see God’s people rebel and worship idols. Disaster comes upon them and they cry out to God. God comes in and rescues them. Shortly after they start to drift away again. Disaster overtakes them, they cry out, God steps in. It’s like a bad record that just keeps repeating.
God’s Message is Simple and Powerful
Jonah 3:4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty Days from now Nineveh will be destroyed.
That’s the message? All of this running away was over that? Seems like a whole lot of drama over a simple message. These words probably weren’t the only words Jonah spoke, but they were the central theme of the message. It wasn’t an eloquent message filled with persuasive words. Jonah simply passed on the very words God had directed him to deliver. The words of God are powerful! With his words, God spoke the universe into existence. The words of God have all the power they need.
Notice, too, that this was a message of judgment and destruction. This wasn’t a message about how much God loved the city of Nineveh. Yes, God is a God of love. Yes, he’s compassionate and merciful. Yes, his grace is amazing! But God is also just. He is holy. He hates sin and one day all of those who die without putting their faith in Jesus are going to face his judgment. And if we love those people, we need to let them know that.
1 Corinthians 1:18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
The apostle Paul knew the power of God’s simple message. He said the cross is foolish to those headed for destruction, but for we who are being saved it is the very power of God. He worked to keep his message simple and centered around Jesus and the cross.
Jonah was emboldened by this simple yet powerful message. He shouted it to the crowds. He wasn’t hesitant this time around. He didn’t walk around whispering this message in the shadows or speak it in code. He spoke exactly what God had told him to speak and he made the most of his second chance. As unlikely is it may have seemed, the people of Nineveh responded.
Every Generation gets to make its own choice
The Assyrians were the last people you would expect to repent. They were known for their brutality and violence. In a time where torture was commonplace, the Assyrians turned it up a notch. They would have mass executions by impalement. They were known to skin conquered people alive and then hang their skins up on the city wall as a reminder to anyone who might want to disobey. But in spite of all this, they repented at the preaching of Jonah. God’s Word penetrated their heart.
Jonah 3:5 (NLT) The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
