Scripture
Once again the Lord told Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach his message of doom.
Observation
Jonah went through a very deep process of conviction of sin. We often think of the book of Jonah as being about the conversion of Nineveh, but it is just as much about the conversion of Jonah. Jonah had to repent of his pride, arrogance and prejudice to get to the place where he was able to minister the gospel of grace to the people of Nineveh.
When the message is preached from this place of brokenness then it can be received. The trouble is that mostly we want to minister from the place of triumph and victory. We want the message to be “You can be as good as me”, when really it needs to be “God can even save someone as rebellious and head-strong as me.”
Application
We all have our “Nineveh”, the place God is calling us to be but we are reluctant to go there. It is hard to get to the place where we can let go of our heart-felt “no go areas” so that God can use us in the place we need to be. Nineveh might be a geographical place, a people group or a task or ministry.
I believe I would go anywhere and do anything that God tells me to- not without fear and trepidation- but knowing that the only way of true happiness is to be in the place God has called me to be, doing the job he wants me to do.
Prayer
Father, it's not always pleasant or easy to do the thing that you want me to do. Let me always have the grace to say “Yes” to your orders. Amen.
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