Jonah 3:1 And the word of The LORD came unto Jonah the second time…
Jonah 3:3-5 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, … and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God…
After getting tossed on to the shores of Nineveh, “the word of The LORD came unto Jonah the second time” (Jonah 3:1). Jonah was not an exceptional case of being given a second chance. Denying she was his wife, Abraham watched Sarah get carried off to the king’s harem, not once, but twice. Moses murdered a man and tried to cover his sin by burying the body in the desert sand. David committed adultery and subsequently murdered the woman’s husband. Aaron built the golden calf but was appointed the first high priest. Peter denied Jesus by the enemy’s fire. John Mark left Paul and Barnabas and ran home to Jerusalem. I am sure that every single one of us can relate to and be thankful for the fact that our God is the God of second chances.
Not only is our God the God of second chances, He is also the God of grace and revival. The Assyrians were a wicked and cruel people. They were the opposite of everything that God said was holy, upright and pure. But God declared in Jeremiah 18:7-8: “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” At the preaching of Jonah, who by the way was far from being a fully yielded vessel, the entire city repented and God forgave them.
Abba, cause our nation to repent at the preaching of the greater than Jonah and heal our land. Selah
Pastor Ray,
Let us not forget another great example of a sinner having second, third, ++ chances…
Acts 9:4-5
“And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks…”
Appreciative of the Lord’s grace Paul was.
1 Timothy 1:15
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
Saul’s name changed, but most importantly his heart changed, born again of the Spirit. God’s grace was sufficient for Saul then and is sufficient for us today. Praise God!
Blessings,
JoseM