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. Jonah 3:10 ESV
When Jonah was commissioned by God to preach to Nineveh, he ran away. He does not want these people to hear the message of God and repent. He wants them to be annihilated. He came to preach judgment, that they have 40 days before they'll be finished. And the people responded. The king and its people did not waste another one of those 40 days. They did not waited for the last day to repent. They immediately realized their sins, their guilt, and that they deserved the punishment. Even when they repented of their ways, they were not demanding forgiveness, they were simply hoping God may be merciful to them. "Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
Mercy is all in the hands of God. It is something we can expect but never demand. It is something that God willingly gives but nobody can demand. He shows mercy to whom he wants to show mercy. And on a side note to servants and messengers of God. When God gives instruction to reach out to a specific group of people. Even if we do not like them, Let us reach out to them beyond our biases and prejudice. Trust that God knows what he is doing when He sends us to people we may not particularly like. 2 December
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