We had a guest speaker yesterday morning at church, and he was preaching from the book of Jonah. God said the city was wicked (Jonah 1:2), and if our exceedingly patient God points out the wickedness of a specific area or people in the Bible, that usually means it’s very bad. But as upset as Jonah was, he certainly wasn’t justified in hating the people of Nineveh so much that he refused to let them have a chance at mercy from God. He refused by going to the most remote location he could find, as far away from Nineveh as possible, just so he wouldn’t have to speak to them or even be around for what would happen. Maybe he figured if he didn’t see it and wasn’t anywhere near there, then he wouldn’t have to think about how he was directly disobeying God.
Jonah’s specific reason for refusing to go to the people of Nineveh was because he knew God was merciful, and in Jonah’s mind those people didn’t deserve mercy. But that is the whole point of mercy; no one deserves it. Which brings me to one of the points the preacher made: Who is your Nineveh? Whether you admit it or not, there are people in your life that you don’t want to talk to, people you think won’t care to hear about Jesus. You might not despise them as completely as Jonah did Nineveh’s people, but you certainly don’t want to be the one that goes to tell them about Jesus. Or maybe you do despise them that much, and you don’t want them to have a chance at God’s mercy because you think they shouldn’t. But either way, you didn’t deserve God’s mercy either, and those people need God’s mercy just as much as you do.
Which brings me to another point made: What is your big fish or whale? You may not need as drastic of a correction as Jonah, but whatever correction you need about your prejudiced attitude, God will do whatever it takes to do that (Proverbs 3:12). Hopefully you’ll do better than Jonah did; he did go tell the people of Nineveh what God wanted them to know, but he certainly wasn’t happy about it (Jonah 4:1-4).
God is merciful on purpose. God loves people on purpose. God did not show mercy to you just so you could refuse to show it to others. (Reminds me of the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35.) God’s mercy is for everyone (John 3:16-17), not just for people who we think deserve it a little more than others.
Related:
Jonah’s Bitterness
Not Fair, But Still Good
God Can Handle Your Feelings
Justice and Mercy