I wonder how many people today have heard from God and are afraid to speak up or are just unwilling to obey the Lord? It is easy to get intimidated and fearful in our culture and not be willing to speak up when we should. Sometimes we can think of excuses like not wanting to offend someone or maybe it is just a lack of love or a fear of rejection. There are many reasons why we don’t speak up and share the Word with those around us.
It is not because we don’t have any opportunities people are all around us that are lost. It seems to me that many who claim to be Christians have lost the joy of the Lord or have been deceived and are starting to conform to worldly standards. Or maybe it is just complacency, thinking that they have their ticket to heaven so why worry about someone else, so they figure let someone else tell them.
There were many prophets in bible times and some of them had the unpleasant task of rebuking kings which was very risky at times and could cost them beatings, imprisonment or worse. But, for the most part they were faithful to their calling regardless of the consequences.
There was at least one exception and his name was Jonah. In the book of Jonah 1:1-2 it says, “The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’” Now, think about Jonah and his situation, here was a man that knew about the Assyrians and their cruel and idolatress behavior and he hated them. Sometimes you may be called by God to do things you may not like, but it is important to be faithful and obedient.
Next we read about Jonah fleeing from his responsibility and from God, he decides to go to Joppa and board a ship going to Tarshish. This was a very foolish decision on Jonah’s part thinking that he could run away from the Lord. Maybe you can think of a time when you tried to run from the Lord. The Lord has a way of getting our attention when that happens and sometimes it is in a way that we least expect. I don’t think Jonah ever thought that he would be fish food, but like I said, God has His ways of getting our attention.
Because of God’s mercy and grace He gave Jonah another chance to obey Him. Sometimes we have to learn the hard way like Jonah did and because of it he cried out to God in prayer which was a good thing. After being thrown up by the big fish, Jonah went to Nineveh and warned the people. Jonah knew God very well knowing that if these people repented, which they did, God would forgive them. Jonah was glad to get out of the fish’s belly but he still wanted the Assyrians to be destroyed.
Think of how fast the Assyrians repented, it says this in Jonah 3:4-10, “Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, ‘In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.’” When God saw their deeds, that they had turned from their wicked way, He relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
Wouldn’t you like this to be the case every time you witnessed to someone? It would make things a lot more pleasant and we would, I hope, rejoice in the Lord because of it. Not so with Jonah, it made him very angry, so angry he wanted to die. Is there anyone you feel this way about, someone that has wronged you or your family? If there is and you are holding a grudge or haven’t forgiven them you need to repent and ask the Lord to forgive you and then pray for this person or persons. Tell the Lord you choose to forgive them and choose to love them and ask him to help you. I believe He will for this is His purpose for our lives.
Then God said this to Jonah in Jonah 4:4-11 “The LORD said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?’ Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, ‘Death is better to me than life.’ Then God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘I have good reason to be angry, even to death.’ Then the LORD said, ‘You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?’”
Be very careful that you don’t end up like Jonah who had no pity or love for these people. Always choose to forgive and show compassion, mercy and love the way God did. God loves every person regardless of who they are and so should we. Something to think about, God bless you and yours and have a great day!!
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