GlocalNet

by guest contributor Jordan Fowler (Teaching Pastor at NorthWood)

As we read Jonah 1:1,2, we quickly realize things are not going smoothly. God calls Jonah to head to Nineveh. “But Jonah” is the leading phrase in verse two as Jonah stiff-arms God’s intent and tries to flee God’s presence. Why does Jonah react in that manner?  It isn’t fear or the distance of the journey but simply the word “Nineveh.” Nineveh stirred up deep emotions in Jonah because Nineveh was the capitol of the local bully on the block, Assyria. Jonah suffered from a case of “particularitis,” where he thought God most loved his own particular kind of folk. 

What is your Nineveh?

Nineveh is anywhere you think is beyond the bounds of God’s grace. It is where you think God is wasting His and your time in trying to bring reconciliation to them. It is where you think God’s wrath should be poured out instead of God’s grace.

Here are some options:

1. The person who vehemently denies God. Perhaps they are the brash outspoken person at your workplace who always makes disparaging statements about God or church.  Perhaps they are the dorm mate who is constantly bragging on their drunkenness or sexual exploits and making a mockery of holiness.

2. The people who are so different than you that reaching them is “hopeless.” Perhaps it is a city around the horizon of the globe that seems to be so tied to their own religion or culture that bringing the Gospel to them seems like an exercise in futility. After all, you are sure they won’t respond. Maybe it is the next door neighbor who is of another faith that you feel so uncomfortable about addressing, you simply dodge them.

3. An area of your own heart that continues to bully you. A habitual sin of the flesh or ungodly attitude has pervaded your life for so long that you have tagged that area of your heart “Nineveh” and given up hope of God’s grace ever invading it to bring transformation.

To all of our Nineveh’s, the book of Jonah is a reminder to us all to hope for ourselves and other that God’s grace be poured out and not His wrath. Unfortunately, we don’t know that Jonah ever learned that lesson. For after Nineveh repents, we find Jonah sulking in Jonah 4:1 “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

God’s grace can extend anywhere, even Nineveh.

To hear the full audio message on other implications from Jonah click here