Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Message of Jonah – Repentance

Jonah 3v10 “When God saw … how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”

The book of Jonah is an account of an episode in Jonah’s life. He lived in Israel in the 8th century BC and the book conveys a message of repentance at two levels.

The first level is the response of Nineveh to Jonah’s message. Jonah simply told them that they were sinning against God and God would bring judgment on their city. The Holy Spirit was clearly at work and brought conviction to both their king and people. And so they mourned and fasted in repentance, “giving up their evil ways”.  Consequently, God forgave them and withdrew the threat of destruction. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

The second level is the ongoing need for repentance in Jonah the prophet’s own life:

  • You’d think a prophet would do what God tells him, but when he hears God tell him to go to take a message to Nineveh, he takes a boat in the opposite direction. God seeks to bring him back on track and sends a storm: Jonah ends up thrown in the sea. Graciously, God sends a fish which picks him up and takes him to land: on the way, Jonah confesses his sin, acknowledges God’s provision and vows to be obedient from now on.
  • Jonah is obedient and goes to Nineveh and preaches. But we see his heart is wrong. He doesn’t want the people to be saved. And so when they are, he is angry and complains to God, “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love.” God challenges him, “Have you any right to be angry?”
  • Jonah does not repent of his heart attitude towards Nineveh, and so he goes out and makes a shelter to watch the city in the hope that God might yet destroy it. How does God respond to this defiance? He graciously provides a vine to give extra shade to Jonah, but then the next day, seeing no change of heart, sends a worm to eat the vine. Jonah is angry that his shade is gone and declares, “it would be better for me to die than to live.” God corrects him again, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

The book concludes with God saying that as Jonah was concerned about the vine, so God was concerned about each inhabitant of the city of Nineveh.

We are left with a question in our minds, “I wonder if the prophet Jonah eventually repented?” The book does not say, but I am guessing that the fact that the book was written, indicates he did.

This is a big challenge for us. We may not have the obvious vices of Nineveh, but, maybe like Jonah, our hearts and attitudes are out-of-line with God’s ways. Is God trying to alert you to such issues? Is it time to repent?

With love and blessing,

Roland