©2005 Debbie Turner Chavers
Who, What, Where is Our Nineveh?
© 2024 Debbie Turner Chavers
I have studied Jonah and tried to understand his choice to run.
Jonah was charged with the task to go and tell a message from the LORD so that a nation could be saved from destruction.
He did not want to tell or go where the Lord was leading him.
Jonah rose up and fled from God’s presence, or so he thought.
Yet as noted in Psalm 139, there is no place that God will not or cannot reach you.
One of the things that I have noted on this scripture journey is that the goodness of God is an opportunity for you and I.
How will we use our opportunity?
Will we run toward God or run from God?
Jonah decided to run from God, definitely not a wise choice.
At first glance, Jonah appears very selfish and judgemental, yet even before his three days in darkness Jonah shows he has compassion.
His compassion is shown toward his fellow boat mates, they are floundering spiritually, as well as physically. Why does he feel kinship with them and not the Ninevites?
Is it because they are in the same boat?
As I read Jonah, I realize that I will become confused by looking at man instead of God. Man changes and has his own agenda, which is usually opposite of God’s plan.
So, a brief look at Jonah quickly tells me to keep my eyes on Jesus, the Light of the world.
Jonah 1:6 So, the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise,call, upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
Jonah 1:12 And he said, unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
Jonah noted. The issue at hand was caused by his disobedience and chose to die rather than submit to God‘s leading.
God was patient.
God is very patient with us.
In God’s mercy, he did not allow Jonah to perish, but took him to the end of himself.
Running away from the presence of God puts us in a dark place.
Yet, repentance brings us to His light.
Jonah 2:10 And the LORD spake onto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
*Note God’s mercy. The LORD spake unto the fish.
Jonah 3:1-2 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
So Jonah finally obeys and the people repent. But Jonah is not happy, in fact, he was very angry. Why?
His response directs us toward looking up, to take our eyes off of man and his obstinance.
To obey the LORD who said to go and to tell.
Look to God, gracious, merciful, Jehovah God.
Even in Jonah’s “backslid, ain't gonna listen attitude “ he confesses God’s goodness.
This realized goodness of God eventually causes Jonah to repent of his own way of doing things.
As a people who acknowledge our God is good, we also must repent of doing and living in our own way.
Jonah 4:4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
It is amazing that Jonah feels betrayed by God’s goodness and mercy when it is being extended to others. Jonah acts like a man betrayed. He states he would rather die than live. Jonah is grieved and angry.
Yet, God still does not judge him, but continues to teach him.
Look at God’s tenderness and patience. God prepared a covering, a gourd, to shelter Jonah from the heat as Jonah waited to see what would become of the city.
Jonah 4:6 And the LORD God, prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
God is tender towards us, yet wants us to learn, so the next morning….
Jonah 4:7–11 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
And it came to pass, When the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, That he fainted, and wished, in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou has not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand, and their left hand: and also much cattle?
Has God ask you to reach out in mercy to “a Nineveh,” from your comfortable place?
Are you having a hard time reconciling or obeying?
Who?
What?
Where is our Nineveh?
~Debbie
If someone you care about or are have a relationship with is a “Jonah”… Do not be the boat. -DtC
Referenced scriptures:
John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, And then come at harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift Up your eyes, and look on the fields: for they are white already to harvest.
Romans 2:4 Or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
*My post has been updated, reposted and vlogged from my original post in 2009.
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Scripture references taken from the KJV
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