Thursday, September 10, 2026

Opening Scripture

“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Joel 2:12-13

Opening Prayer

Gracious Father, thank you for this day, another chance to love and serve You. Help me make the most of it and do everything I can to please You. May Your priorities be mine. Remind me that, apart from You, I can do nothing. Help me follow the Spirit today as He guides me in grace, truth, and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Help me not to be foolish, but to understand your good, pleasing, and perfect will. Open my heart and mind to all You want me to know and learn. As I draw near to You, please draw near to me and help me sense Your presence. Help me to stand strong against the evil one, and to think and act as Your child. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

Jonah 3:1-5

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

Reflection  

Jonah was mercifully thwarted in his plan to sail 2,500 miles west to Tarshish to “flee from the face of God.” Instead, the God of second chances – slow to anger and abounding in love – saved the wayward prophet and repeated His original instruction for Jonah to travel 500 miles northeast to “the great city of Nineveh.” This time, Jonah obeyed.

Nineveh was located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in what is now northern Iraq. At one point, it was the largest city in the world, with an impressive infrastructure that included aqueducts, roads, hanging gardens, ornate palaces, and an advanced sewage system.

Nineveh’s extensive stone outer wall enclosed surrounding farms and villages, and it took three days to walk from one end to the other. Reinforced towers provided strategic defensive protection. The inner wall was almost eight miles in circumference. It was made of mudbrick and was fifty feet thick and seventy feet high. There were fifteen heavily fortified monumental gates. Beyond the wall was a moat, filled from nearby rivers. In short, Nineveh was a “great” city.

After his miraculous rescue, Jonah finally obeyed God and made the trip to Nineveh, but his heart was clearly not in it. Rather than repenting of his prejudice and disobedience, asking God’s forgiveness, and embracing his divine mission with enthusiasm, it appears that Jonah sought to appease God by doing the very least that was required of him. Now safely back on dry land, Jonah grudgingly obeyed.

It took three days to walk from one end of the outer wall to the other, but Jonah wandered a third of the way in and stopped. He proclaimed the simple message, “Forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” There was no acknowledgement that this was a word from Almighty God. There were no details about the sins the people had committed. There was no plea for sorrow or remorse. It was certainly not an impassioned evangelistic sermon with a lengthy altar call.

Jonah made no attempt to ensure that everyone heard God’s warning. It is almost as if he took pleasure in announcing Ninevah’s impending doom – with no explanation of the reason for it or how to avoid it – to the fewest people possible. But God is never limited by our unfaithfulness or half-heartedness. He is always at work accomplishing His perfect will in ways far beyond our ability to understand.

History records two plagues that ravaged Nineveh before Jonah’s arrival. First, in 765 B.C., textual evidence suggests a severe epidemic, possibly a contagious disease, that would have been interpreted as a sign of divine displeasure. Then, in 759 B.C., a second plague struck Nineveh shortly after the first. Again, this would be seen as an omen of divine judgment. Between the two plagues, in 763 B.C., there was a total solar eclipse, which would also have been viewed as a troubling cosmic event of divine origin.

All of this may help explain why the violent, pagan Ninevites were so ready to respond to Jonah’s weak, half-hearted message.

While the Israelites were often tripped up by their arrogance as “God’s chosen people,” clearly, Yahweh can do anything He wants, anytime He wants, with anyone He wants. The Assyrians were used by God, first to free the Israelites from the oppression of the Arameans, then to serve as God’s divine judgment on them. Hosea and Amos both prophesied God’s impending punishment. “Will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?” (Hosea 11:5).

In 722 B.C., “the king of Assyria invaded the entire land… he captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God. They worshipped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them. They did wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger” (2 Kings 17 selected).

The Apostle Paul offers a similar warning to God’s chosen people in his first letter to the Corinthians. “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did. And do not grumble, as some of them did. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10 selected).

God expects His people to love as He loves and care about what He cares about. God wants His people to live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. When they reject their covenant relationship, worship other gods, and rebel against Him, He graciously warns and corrects as needed.

Flourishing Habit

Flourishing Christians

Remarkably, even with Jonah’s pathetic effort, “revival” broke out in Nineveh – or at least, the people responded to his message. “The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” It happened despite Jonah, not because of him.

Jonah, the reluctant prophet, knew God. He knew the truth. He had the right answers. The problem was that knowledge had not transformed his heart and soul. In response to the frightened sailors’ questions, Jonah claimed to “worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Yet, it is obvious he did not love God or other people very much.

Jonah’s vision was clouded by prejudice and selfishness. There was no lasting gratitude in his heart. His appreciation for being rescued from drowning was short-lived. The joy of the Lord was definitely not his strength. He was in no way committed to the mission. Jonah’s failure was not because he doubted God’s ability to save the Assyrians. As we will see, it was because he feared God would save them!

Jonah’s assumptions about what God should and should not do blinded him to the glorious expanse of God’s goodness. Jonah sought to limit God.

Do you ever do that? Do you ever try to limit God?

We can try to limit God consciously or unconsciously. Due to pride and selfishness. Through a lack of faith or trust. From fear of sacrifice and loss. Blinded by anger or prejudice. Focused on feelings and emotions. Bound by guilt or unconfessed sin. Out of disobedience and rebellion. Hindered by apathy or spiritual immaturity.

Thankfully, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3). It is up to each of us to devote ourselves to that high calling!

And we must believe that our loving Heavenly Father, “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

This week’s collective prayer: Father, place someone on my heart who needs to hear the Good News of Jesus. Give me the opportunity to share with them. Amen.

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!