Friday, September 4, 2020

Repentance and Mercy


Jer 18:7  If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 
Jer 18:8  and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 

There is no better illustration of these words than the people of Nineveh who repented after Jonah spoke of their destruction.

Jon 3:4  Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 
Jon 3:5  And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 

One man, Jonah the reluctant prophet, when he finally obeyed God, brought a nation to their knees and they showed repentance; sackcloth and ashes even covering their animals with sackcloth showing their humbling before God and God spared them. Oh that our nation would all seek God in true humility. 

The LORD spoke to Solomon at the height of his power, at the completion of the Temple in Jerusalem.What God builds, he can take down. May we find favor with God.

2Ch 7:14  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

 Jonah hated the cruel people of Nineveh, nevertheless he obeyed God.  Obeying God brought about a miracle. We are not to run from God, but to be still, listen and obey him. He can use us to do the impossible. With God all things are possible.






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