Be Strong
An Attitude Like Jonah's Part 4, is based on Jonah 3:1-10 (nkjv).
After being safely delivered to the shore, Jonah is commanded once more to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Only
this time he listens. Nineveh was a large city with an estimated population of 1 million. It would take Jonah over three
days to walk from one end of Nineveh to the other. As wild as the Assyrians were, they began to react favorably to Jonah's
warnings on the very first day as Jonah shouted, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!", Jonah 3:4.
"The people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
Then word came from the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth
and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles,
saying,"
"Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast
be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is
in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?",
Jonah 3:5-9.
What remarkable faith the Assyrians showed! The people of Nineveh had a horrible reputation. They were guilty of the most
vial and despicable acts in human history. Yet when they heard that God was going to destroy them, their first response was
to acknowledge their hideous ways and plead for forgiveness. Often when I watch the news, I wonder if God is calling one or
many today to do just what Jonah did. It seems that history is repeating itself once more.
Getting back to our story, "Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the
disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it", Jonah 3:10. Imagine if God would have let
Jonah go to Tarshish instead of bringing him back on the first recorded submarine ride ever. The fact is that God loves all
of us. No matter what our background is or who we are He cares about us.
The question remains, What is God calling you to do?
Written by Jason P Knarr
Continued in An Attitude Like Jonah, part 5
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