The People of Nineveh Repent
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. ESV
Jonah 3:6-10 How does wide scale change take place? Is it the message? The messenger? The crowd that hears the message? The one who authored the message? Jonah is the messenger with a word from God. Not sure if they knew Jonah was a prophet yet they seemed to know the God of Jonah. The message was simply: forty days from now the city will be overrun. It was not a warning-nor was any promise made that if they changed their ways it could be avoided. The original hearers believed-humbled themselves before God. The response was contagious & it made it to the King who believed & pushed it into top priority as he humbled himself as well. How would you have responded? How do you respond to God’s Word today? Does your life & belief stir others to believe and obey? What if the first crowd has responded differently? Be a Belief agent!
