Is there any hope if you are the most wicked person on earth? The Bible suggests there is.
"He prayed to the LORD, "Isn't this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." Jonah 4:2.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND:
The people of ancient Nineveh were wicked and evil to a degree that rivals or surpasses the worst of today's standards. Jonah was commissioned by God to preach a message of impending destruction and proclaim God's judgment against the people of Nineveh, but Jonah chose to reject God and go another direction. After he was swallowed by the fish he repented, and the Lord brought him to Nineveh, and preached the warning message God gave him. The people repented and God did not destroy the city.
Jonah experienced God's compassion and mercy, so he knew personally that God is a wonderful, loving, and forgiving God.
A GRACIOUS AND COMPASSIONATE GOD
Jonah puts two beautiful words together to describe God; first that the Lord is gracious, and to be gracious is to give favor to those who do not deserve it or to show kindness when it is in your power and right to withhold it.
The second was that the Lord is compassionate. Compassion is to give aid, comfort, and empathetic understanding to those who are suffering.
Both grace and compassion are acts of the one who is in authority or has power over another one who is unworthy to receive grace or compassion.
SLOW TO ANGER
God must be slow to anger; we are each of us living evidence to His patience because if He was quick to execute judgment each of us would have come to our end long ago.
Jonah should have been grateful that the Lord is slow to anger because he himself had disobeyed and was the object of God's judgment. Even then God was holding back since God's wrath could have been far worse than a stormy sea and ingestion by a fish.
ABOUNDING IN LOVE
God is not only loving but He is abounding in love, His love is beyond boundaries, and past all measures. He shows compassion and mercy countless of times to each of the earth's billions of souls every day- that is love which cannot be measured.
A GOD WHO RELENTS FROM SENDING CALAMITY
God may is swayed by our repentance. It is like He favors forgiveness as if all else were equal He would go with the forgiveness.
The people of Nineveh heard God's message, they repented of their sin and turned to God, so they were spared. The Gospel promises the same for each of us
To learn more about how you can find complete forgiveness for all your sins see my other post.
"He prayed to the LORD, "Isn't this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." Jonah 4:2.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND:
The people of ancient Nineveh were wicked and evil to a degree that rivals or surpasses the worst of today's standards. Jonah was commissioned by God to preach a message of impending destruction and proclaim God's judgment against the people of Nineveh, but Jonah chose to reject God and go another direction. After he was swallowed by the fish he repented, and the Lord brought him to Nineveh, and preached the warning message God gave him. The people repented and God did not destroy the city.
Jonah experienced God's compassion and mercy, so he knew personally that God is a wonderful, loving, and forgiving God.
A GRACIOUS AND COMPASSIONATE GOD
Jonah puts two beautiful words together to describe God; first that the Lord is gracious, and to be gracious is to give favor to those who do not deserve it or to show kindness when it is in your power and right to withhold it.
The second was that the Lord is compassionate. Compassion is to give aid, comfort, and empathetic understanding to those who are suffering.
Both grace and compassion are acts of the one who is in authority or has power over another one who is unworthy to receive grace or compassion.
SLOW TO ANGER
God must be slow to anger; we are each of us living evidence to His patience because if He was quick to execute judgment each of us would have come to our end long ago.
Jonah should have been grateful that the Lord is slow to anger because he himself had disobeyed and was the object of God's judgment. Even then God was holding back since God's wrath could have been far worse than a stormy sea and ingestion by a fish.
ABOUNDING IN LOVE
God is not only loving but He is abounding in love, His love is beyond boundaries, and past all measures. He shows compassion and mercy countless of times to each of the earth's billions of souls every day- that is love which cannot be measured.
A GOD WHO RELENTS FROM SENDING CALAMITY
God may is swayed by our repentance. It is like He favors forgiveness as if all else were equal He would go with the forgiveness.
The people of Nineveh heard God's message, they repented of their sin and turned to God, so they were spared. The Gospel promises the same for each of us
To learn more about how you can find complete forgiveness for all your sins see my other post.
(c) Adron 6/3/15
