Summer At Sea: Week 8 Day 5

Jonah 3:5-10 ESV

5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Let’s do a quick recap. The sinful people of Nineveh heard God’s message and immediately initiated rituals of repentance. Similarly, the sailors on the boat who did not know God, offered sacrifices and begged forgiveness after tossing Jonah overboard. The wind and waves obeyed God, as did the monstrous fish from the chaotic abyss. Later, a plant grows and a worm eats it (Jonah 4:5-8), all at God’s command. Everything in this story is attentive and obedient to God except for Jonah, a prophet, the person who’s whole job and life is supposed to be dedicated to hearing and responding to God’s Word.

Now let’s do a quick headcount. How many of us have heard the phrase, “but aren’t you supposed to be a Christian?” I have; my initial reaction was indignation. How is someone who hasn’t been reading the Bible and going to church their whole life supposed to know more than me about being a Christian? Of course they didn’t, but they didn’t need to. They only needed to know a little about love, forgiveness, and compassion to recognize I was failing to exhibit those qualities.

In Matthew 19, the disciples tried to keep some young kids from bothering Jesus, but Jesus invited the children to join Him, saying the kingdom of Heaven belongs to people like them, the ones who will respond to and seek the Lord. The Word of God isn’t hard to understand, but it’s difficult to accept when we have other misconceptions we refuse to let go of.

Let’s be like Nineveh; toss out all our wrong and harmful inclinations and start new with faith in mercy and hope for new life.