Wednesday

Scripture Jonah 3:1-10

“Even the mighty need to humble themselves to do God’s will.”

There is something about the story of Jonah that has always spoke to me.  First Jonah tries to run away from the call of God.  In some respects, it reminds me of my call story.  I was told when I was 15 that God may be calling me.  For the next 35 years, I ran away from that call.  But as we read today God called a second time and I answered maybe not to go to Nineveh home of my enemies but to enter into the ministry willing to go wherever God directed.  It meant letting go of some things and opening up to others.  The following is the scripture from the NLT.

NLT Jonah 3:1 Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time:
2 "Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message of judgment I have given you."
3 This time Jonah obeyed the LORD's command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.
4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: "Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!"
5 The people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least, they decided to go without food and wear sackcloth to show their sorrow.
6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in sackcloth and sat on a heap of ashes.
7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: "No one, not even the animals, may eat or drink anything at all.
8 Everyone is required to wear sackcloth and pray earnestly to God. Everyone must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence.
9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will have pity on us and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us."
10 When God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he had mercy on them and didn't carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Much like Jonah, I have learned that if we really are ready to repent, humble ourselves, and seek God, God will have pity on us and hold back His judgment toward us.  Let us pray earnestly and to seek to change our ways.  This season of Lent be for us one of prayer, repentance, and seeking the will of God in our lives.