A couple months ago the church that I attend, Eagle Brook Church, had a message series titled Surviving Your Storm. In this series they asked the question “What is your Nineveh?”. The series revolved around the story of Jonah and his reluctance to first go to Nineveh then see them be forgiven after they repented of their sins. For me this question makes me think about where is God directing me to go but I’m refusing to along with who am I to forgive or help lead to Christ but I would rather see them be punished by God’s wrath. The former isn’t an issue for me at the moment but the latter is an area I need to work on. I find myself some days hoping for punishment against people who have hurt my family members in one way or another. Also I find myself wanting to see God’s wrath against those in power who are trying to destroy our country and hurt our children. Here is God’s response to Jonah when he was more concerned about a plant that God had grown to give him shade then took away the next day then he was concerned about the forgiveness of the Ninevites.
"Adonai said, “You’re concerned over the castor-bean plant, which cost you no effort; you didn’t make it grow; it came up in a night and perished in a night. So shouldn’t I be concerned about the great city of Ninveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who don’t know their right hand from their left — not to mention all the animals?”"
- Yonah (Jonah) 4:10-11 CJB
As you can see in these verses we should care about others and be guiding them to God so that like us they too may be forgiven. We should always show compassion even when the person may have hurt us or someone we love. This can be hard to do sometimes and you may need to ask God to help give you the strength to be able to show compassion and share His love with them. Over time it will get easier to show compassion but keeping in prayer will always help and God will always be there for you. Check out the Surviving Your Storm message series.
God Bless
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