“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Jonah 1:2-3

I love my Dad with all my heart, but my Dad was a bigot. There was a particular group of people that he had no love for what so ever. Praise God that Jesus removed that bigotry from our family.

Unfortunately our flesh, even among believers if we allow it, will foster hate.

It may be a whole group of people, a particular group or family or maybe just a single person.

Sometimes our hatred is rooted in fear, sometimes bitterness or jealousy, sometimes it is vengeance. It is ALL sin!

We could all learn a lesson from Jonah and though we probably know it, lets look at Jonah for a moment.

Jonah thought himself righteous and when God asked him to go to Nineveh to be a missionary there, he tried to run away from God. He had disdain for the Ninevite people. There was no love lost between Israel and Nineveh. The Nineveh King Sennacherib, laid siege to Jerusalem in 701, and it had a reputation for being a city of great wickedness.

Jonah knew God, and was a faithful Jew. But when God asked him to take a message that, due to their wickedness and rebellion, in 40 days He was going to destroy the Ninevites, Jonah ran. He got on a boat, to which God sent a storm and when he jumped into the water to save the ship and its inhabitants, God sent a whale to swallow him up. While in the belly of the whale he prayed to God, but listen to the last verses of his prayer … “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” Jonah 2:8-9. Even his prayer is arrogant. Those (Ninevites) forsake their hope of redemption, but I will sacrifice to you, salvation belongs to the Lord! If he meant that would he not have gone to Nineveh and done what God asked?

After almost being sunk in the storm and then being in the belly of the whale for 3 days, God lets the whale vomit him out. Jonah then goes to Nineveh and does tell them that God is going to send judgement on their wickedness. As a result the King and all of Nineveh repent of their wickedness and “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.” Jonah 3:10. So, Jonah relented, did what God asked, and as a result all of Nineveh was saved from destruction. Imagine what that would be like. To be the one man that, because of your obedience to God, 120,000 people are saved and reconciled to Him.

But Jonah’s hatred runs deep, instead of rejoicing over how mightily God has used him to bring redemption, the scripture says “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?  That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah 4:1-4

Jonah would rather be dead, then have the Ninevites forgiven by God. Jonah then goes out of the city and sits and God grows a small tree to shelter him, but when he wakes in the morning God has sent a worm to attack and kill the tree and Jonah is again angry and wants to die. He says to God “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”  And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

God relates the Ninevites to the plant that Jonah is so upset over and says (and I paraphrase here) you pity a plant that you had no part in and that you had for a day, should I not pity an entire people group?

God appointed Jonah to reach people for Him. Because of His selfish pride, arrogance and hatred he robbed himself of the incredible blessings that God was trying to bestow on him. The blessing of being used by Him to bring about the redemption of all of Nineveh, but sadly Jonah missed out on the jubilance that comes from that kind of experience. He missed out on how incredibly God was glorified. He missed out on the true revelation of God’s steadfast love.

God has appointed each of us our own “Nineveh”. They may not be the people that we would gravitate toward, they may not be people that we easily forgive, they may not be people we even feel deserve redemption. But, prior to knowing Him, were we anyone that Jesus should have gravitated toward? Should it have been easy for Him to forgive us? Did we deserve redemption? The answer to all three questions is NO. But He was merciful and we are called to show mercy (“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7). He was forgiving and we are called to forgive (Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32). Only God can judge sin, who are we to judge whether someone else is worthy of redemption. (Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. Romans 2:1).

I pray that today we would show mercy, show forgiveness and not judge another’s sin, thinking ourselves more worthy. I pray that we would recognize that God wants to use us just like He did Jonah and I pray that we would share the gospel with our Ninevehs and rejoice over all who come to know Him….He is asking us to go, will we with jubilant hearts go where He sends us, or will it take a whale?

If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) page and pray the prayer that is outlined there. God is a God of mercy and desires to forgive us and to have personal relationships with each and every one of us, you included. He loves and adores you and has been patient in waiting for you to come to Him. Please pray. Once you have, please reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know so that I could be in prayer for you and hopefully help you grow in your relationship with, and knowledge of, our Precious Savior, Jesus Christ.

Luv Ya!