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We can't out-run God or His love --
Jonah 3:10
It's futile to run from God. Jonah discovered that. When God called him to go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim their impending judgment, Jonah refused and fled. Why? Because he knew what would happen. The Ninevites might repent of their wickedness, and he knew God was gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, willing to relent from sending calamity. Jonah didn't want God to spare these bitter enemies.
He learned the hard way, though, that you and I can't out-run God or His love. Jonah tried but failed. But in failing he also discovered the greatness of God's love for him, and all people, Jew, and Gentile alike. The last words of the book are some of the most beautiful in all the Scriptures. Jonah wants God to destroy the people of Nineveh, but God says to Jonah, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left–and also many animals?"
God wanted the Ninevites to repent of their wickedness and turn to Him. He was willing to relent from judging them. That's an interesting thing about God. On one occasion, Abraham argued with God about the people of Sodom. God was going to destroy that city because of its great wickedness. Abraham succeeded in getting a pledge from God that He wouldn't destroy the city if as many as ten righteous people could be found there. Unfortunately, there weren't ten righteous people in Sodom, but at least God was swayed by Abraham's arguments. That isn't an isolated event.
God chose Saul to be Israel's first king, but Saul soon revealed he wasn't worthy of such responsibility. So, God chose Samuel the prophet to anoint David to be king.
And when God chose Jonah to tell the people of Nineveh, He was going to destroy the city because of their wickedness, an amazing thing happens. All the people of Nineveh repent. From the king in his palace to the lowly man sweeping the streets, they all turn from their sin. When that happens, God forgives their sin and spares Nineveh. This embarrasses Jonah beyond belief. He's told the people of Nineveh God is going to destroy them. Now God isn't going to do it. Jonah feels utterly humiliated. Besides, he didn't like the people all that much anyway. Angrily he says to God, "I knew it! I knew you were that kind of God." Jonah is so upset he goes out and sits on a hillside overlooking Nineveh to mope. He's angry enough to sit there until he dies.
What do you do with a God who changes his mind, who says he's going to destroy people and then lets them off the hook? Is God like a permissive parent who can't follow through on a punishment because his heart is too tender? No, what prompted a change in the mind of God was the repentance and prayer of the Ninevites. Isn't that why we pray, most of the time, to change God's mind? To be sure some prayers aren't like that.
Sometimes our prayers are prayers of thanksgiving. Sometimes they're for forgiveness. Often, however, we pray for God somehow to change his plan. We're like the five-year-old, who told his dad he'd like to have a baby brother. His dad thought for a moment and then replied, "I'll tell you what. If every night for two months you pray for a baby brother, I guarantee God will give you one." My guess is dad knew something little Bobby didn't.
That night Bobby went to his bedroom early to start praying for his baby brother.
He prayed every night for a whole month, but then he began to get a little weary. He quit praying for a baby brother. After another month, however, his mother went to the hospital. When she came back home, his parents called him into the bedroom. When he came in, he saw a little bundle lying right next to his mother. His dad pulled back the blanket and there was not just one baby brother, but two. Twins. Bobby's dad looked down at him and said, "Now, aren't you glad you prayed?" Young Bobby hesitated a little and then looked up at his dad and said, "Yes, but aren't you glad I quit when I did?"
God is neither a permissive parent who cannot follow through on a punishment nor a rigid tyrant who refuses to change his mind about judgment. God is free to do whatever He chooses, and He tells us there are things such as prayer that will affect His response.
So often when we pray aren't we trying to change something, whether it's the natural processes of nature or the results of some deed or misdeed we did? Or perhaps we may pray for somebody we wish God would change.
I read recently of a woman whose husband had a serious drinking problem. Even worse, he refused to get any help. This became a serious matter of contention between them. Indeed, their marriage was a nightmare. Every night this woman prayed God would change her husband. But no change took place.
Then her pastor suggested she change her prayer. Instead of asking God every night to change her husband, why not give God thanks for him. After all, he did have some good points. He suggested she start giving God thanks for her husband and to restrict her prayer to the things she was grateful for.
When she did that, a change started to happen in their marriage-first with her and then her husband. The climate changed in their home. Resentment was changed to acceptance. Acceptance and love helped her husband get his drinking problem under control. He changed when her prayer changed from a prayer of petition to a prayer of thanksgiving. So often, though, when we pray it's to change God's mind.
From the story of Jonah some might conclude repentance change's God's mind. Nineveh repented and God relented. The city was spared. What about us? If we repent would God change his attitude toward us?
Obviously, we all stand in constant need of repentance. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
And we know sin is a barrier to our relationship with God. Indeed, sin is brokenness, alienation. The longer we stay in our sin, the more difficult it is for us to turn to God.
Sin is like that. After a while it becomes such a part of us that we grow numb to God. That's why the repentance of one lost soul brings such rejoicing in Heaven.
Repentance is important. But does it change God's mind?
The truth is, it isn't God's mind that needs changing, but ours. It wasn't God's purpose Nineveh be destroyed. God wanted Nineveh to recognize its need for repentance. Read John 3:17 about Jesus' purpose for coming into the world. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." That's always God's will.
So, it is with prayer. Anglican Archbishop and poet Richard Trench once said prayer isn't overcoming God's reluctance but laying hold of his willingness. He's the One who knows our needs and whose will is always for our good. We can't help but pray when things need changing. That's the most human response to danger or heartache in the world. But even while we're praying, a loving God is already working all things together to the good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose.
Therefore, rather than praying to God to change His plan, He wants us to pray He would change us so we might trust Him more. It's understandable to pray that God would change circumstances, but it's far better to pray that regardless of our circumstances we will remain faithful through him who loves us and gave his life on our behalf.
God's love for us is unchanging. We're the ones who need to change. Jonah learned that while brooding in resentment over God's saving such an undeserving city as Nineveh. As Thomas Carlyle put it: "And Jonah stalked to his shaded seat and waited for God to come around to his way of thinking." Then Carlyle adds, "And God is still waiting for a host of Jonahs to come around to His way of loving."
It wasn't God who needed a change of mind, but Jonah. That's our greatest need, too, to bring our lives into such harmony with the love and purpose of God that His plan is our plan.
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Rev. Charles Eldredge is a member of Maitland Church of the Brethren. He has a Facebook page and can be contacted by email: ce1133 @verizon.net.