Nineveh was a great city but very wicked indeed.
And God said "Their wickedness is come up before me".
So he sent Jonah to speak against them,
to chastise them for their sins,
that perhaps they might repent
and become broken and contrite within.
But Jonah disobeyed the Lord
and ran the other way.
He found a ship to give the Lord the slip
and went to sleep in the cargo bay.
Yet God was not to be denied -
he sent a storm that made grown men cry.
They cried out to their gods "save us from the deep!"
Then they found Jonah (like Paul) fast asleep.
"Call out to your god too, or we're all going to die soon!"
Jonah knew instantly what the problem was.
"I'm running from the god of the Hebrews.
About your trouble? I am the cause.
Throw me overboard and you will have safety.
That's right, just take me and toss me in the sea."
With fear and trembling they prayed
"God, don't blame us, for doing what we must."
And with that they tossed him overboard.
And the sea calmed and they feared the Lord.
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish
to swallow Jonah and his foolishness.
Jonah prayed to God for 3 days and 3 nights,
"Oh God I am cast out of your sight.
Yet I will look again toward your Holy temple.
From here this truth I now clearly see -
"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
I will once again turn my soul unto thee
and I will sacrafice to you with the voice of thanksgiving.
And I will keep my vows,
for this I know right here, right now,
according to your Holy word -
Salvation is of the Lord."
Then the Lord spoke to the fish about the wayward man
and it vomited him up on to the dry land.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time to say -
"Go and preach to Nineveh this very day."
When he arrived he began to cry -
"Nineveh shall be overthrown in forty days time."
The people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast.
Even the king set aside his robe and covered himself in sack cloth and ash.
He made a decree that all the people should do likewise.
"For perhaps" he said "we'll find mercy in God's eyes."
So they fasted and they prayed
and they turned from their wicked ways.
And because they repented of the evil they had done,
God repented from utterly destroying everyone.
When Jonah saw that the people were not killed,
he was less than thrilled.
He was angry in fact
that they were not attacked.
From the city he went out
to a high hill to sit and pout.
God said "Is it right for you to be angry?"
Still Jonah sat, stubbornly.
So God sent a plant to grow overnight
to provide shade for Jonah to ease his plight.
For the sun beat down harshly and the wind blew dust.
Jonah was very glad for that plant
but in his anger he was adamant.
God then sent a worm to devour the plant
and again Jonah was exceedingly angry.
God said "for this plant you've had more concern
then for the 60,000 people in this city, haven't you learned?
Do you not see that your heart isn't right before me?
I prefer mercy to wrath
yet you've chosen a different path.
My heart is to save not destroy man.
You should open your bowels of compassion.
You should rejoice that by using your voice
I was able to fashion the deliverance of a great city.
Can you not, for your fellow man, take pity?"
The Bible does not record Jonah's reply.
Perhaps he remained angry, perhaps he saw why
he should repent but this I know, this I understand -
we should all cry out to God on behalf of our fellow man.
We should all share the gospel whenever we can
with a wicked and perverse generation.
We should all desire everyone's salvation.
We should care more for people than we do our own comfort.
We should preach and teach and prophecy and exhort
everyone we know to turn and follow
the path of righteousness
the trail Jesus blazed
that all who do so
may be delivered and saved.
