Wednesday after Quasimodogeniti

Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10 (NKJV)

3:1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 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. 8 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. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

10 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.

Devotion

“Then God saw…that they turned from their evil way; and God relented.”
Jonah had prophesied, according to the Word of the Lord, “yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Not “might be,” but “will be.” Getting “overthrown” usually meant defeat by a foreign army. And there was no “Geneva Convention.” Having your city overrun by a foreign power in those days was a horror of such proportions that we can scarcely imagine it. But they repented! And what happened? God saw, and relented. He beheld these repentant Ninevites, and in view of their repentance, He withdrew the impending punishment.

Why, when He had said “shall be overthrown,” did He not follow through? The answer, of course, is that even when such a statement is made in the absolute, there can be an implied conditional. Where there is genuine repentance, God will show mercy.

For you, and for those you speak to, remember: when people repent and trust in Christ, God is always desiring to be merciful. So many people forget that God sincerely wants to forgive. You cannot be more Godless than a Ninevite. But neither can you sin a sin “bigger” than our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross. Therefore, be repentant, and ever be rejoicing that Jesus’ death and resurrection count for you.

We pray: Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Yourself into death to atone for my sins and rose again that I might be justified through faith in You, forgive my sins, strengthen my faith, and embolden me to speak Your saving name before men. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.