Jonah 3:1-10. So Jonah got a second chance, he stopped running and turned back to God. He told God that he remembered who he was (Jonah 2:7). That probably included a real commitment to who God is, Jonah dedicated his life to the one true powerful God. He would pay what he had promised, a life lived for the one true God (Jonah 2:9). God still had the same plan for Jonah, the question is did Jonah really mean what he said “fro the depth of the grave”?
In today’s reading God again sends Jonah to Ninevah and he does go. In verse 3 we learn that Ninevah was very a very large area, the reference to three days journey probably means it would take three days to walk around it. Many scholars complain that cities were not that big in those days. Maybe Jonah was talking about the whole Ninevah area including villages and farms. We have no reason to doubt Jonah. We don’t know what he means. Later we will see that there were a lot of people living in the area he went to.
Jonah’s message has always seemed a little weak to me, “In forty days you’re going to get slammed by God.” It doesn’t seem like he really wants them to turn to God, he doesn’t even tell them that they can get right with God. But somehow they knew. Maybe they were used to throwing themselves on the mercy of a god. In verse 9 the king doesn’t seem very sure but he sure willing to try. The problem is they just didn’t know God, he had just fixed Jonah, and he had the power and desire to fix them too. And according to verse 10 that is just what he did. He didn’t destroy them like he said he would.
The interesting thing here is the king (and I suppose everyone else in Ninevah) wasn’t too sure that god would have mercy. But God did. It never ceaseds to amaze me how forgiving God is, we don’t have to come to him with total knowledge and perfect prayers, we just need to turn toward him. It’s like the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The son was returning after wasting all his father had given him, he was coming back to be a servant in his fathers house. While he was still a ways away walking back the father ran out to him and hugged him, put a fine robe on him, and made a feast for him. In verse 32 the father told his jealous other son, “we had to be happy for this brother of yours was dead but has begun to live”. Wow! God really loves us. And he is ready to run to us with the slightest indication that we are coming back.
God all I can really say is your love is amazing. Help me show that to others. Help me get them to turn their heads in your direction. If they see who you truly are they should never turn away again.