The Message of Mercy

Have you heard the call to love God and love people?

Jonah 3:1-3
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 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.

Jonah 3:4-5
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 declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
Why would Jonah have been so reluctant to give this message?

How did such a brief and seemingly careless message lead to this response?

1 Corinthians 1:21
Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.

Jonah 3:6-9
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 burlap 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 from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

Nahum 3:1-3
1 What sorrow awaits Nineveh,
   the city of murder and lies!
She is crammed with wealth
   and is never without victims.
2 Hear the crack of whips,
   the rumble of wheels!
Horses’ hooves pound,
   and chariots clatter wildly.
3 See the flashing swords and glittering spears
   as the charioteers charge past!
There are countless casualties,
   heaps of bodies—
so many bodies that
   people stumble over them.

Nahum 3:19c
Where can anyone be found who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?

Genesis 6:13
13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!"

"Violence," also cruelty, here describes the malicious conduct of someone who has gained power over others, ignoring the dictates of conscience and compassion in their behavior.

Where does violence show up in your life, and how should you turn from it?

Jonah 3:10
10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.