Jonah had a lot of issues. Apart from his tendency to act dramatic during any ample opportunity, he had a much bigger problem. He didn't want to see the enemies of God saved. You couldn't get much worse than the Assyrians. They flayed people alive and had some of the world's worst torture practices that have ever peppered history books. Jonah watched the Northern Kingdom of Israel fall to them and get taken into captivity or scattered. So we can imagine his ire when God asked him to bring them a message of warning.
Although the message said God would bring destruction on Nineveh, a major city in Assyria, Jonah knew it came with a caveat. If the people repented, God would relent (Jonah 4:2). So he purposely fled to postpone the word from reaching them, so they'd face judgment.
And this sounds terrible to us. How could Jonah, a man of God, wish destruction upon anyone?
But if we exercised complete honesty with ourselves, we can think of some Ninevites in our lives who we'd rather see reap the benefits of the destruction that they'd caused in the past.
Maybe we don't go that far. But when given the opportunity to witness to them, we may say, "Bah! They've hurt me too much. I think I'll let another Christian take the reins on this one."
So let's explore some potential Ninevites in our lives, and how we can move past the hurt to forgive them and show them the example of Jesus.
Apart from the fact that the Assyrians had wreaked havoc on Israel a few decades prior to when the Book of Jonah takes place, it also comes down to a national pride issue. When Jonah introduces himself in Jonah 1, he starts off with his Hebrew identity before his religious one. In essence, his priorities had gotten out of whack.
Yes, God specifically selected the nation of Israel to be his representatives in the Old Testament. But that didn't mean that God didn't love every nation he created. This included the Assyrians. And if God wanted to give them an opportunity to repent, he wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to do so.
Hence why he called Jonah.
But Jonah got lost in all the hurt and destruction the Ninevites caused. He decided that God had made a bad call and that the Ninevites had everything coming their way that they deserved. Not only had Jonah forgotten about how many times God relented and forgave Israel, but he'd forgotten that the Lord made everyone in his image, including those in Assyria.
And honestly, we do the same. So let's see which Ninevites we may have avoided witnessing to in our lives.
I had many friends I invested in in high school. We shared the most vulnerable secrets with one another, broke bread together, worshipped together, and did, well, everything together. As soon as college hit, they not only abandoned their faith, but they wanted nothing to do with me.
And I cannot describe the amount of hurt I experienced from that.
It had gotten to the point where I feared I would go out into a public place and bump into them. Because what would I say? How could I get a conversation going with them?
If you'd asked me, my freshman year of college if given the opportunity, would I witness to them and share what God had been doing in my life, I probably would've said no. "I'm sure God will bring someone else along who can do the same thing."
And maybe Jonah had hoped for the same. He was the last person up to the task to go to those who likely hurt him and those he loved.
How to Combat This: Hurt people hurt people. We've all wounded someone in the past. Christ forgives us. Therefore, we have no excuse.
This seems intuitive. But enemies can come in all shapes in sizes. Maybe it's that coworker who doesn't do all the work they claim they do, and you end up picking up the slack. Maybe it's that family member who likes to throw passive-aggressive jabs at you during holiday gatherings. Perhaps it's that job that snubbed you all those years back and gave a promotion to someone who really didn't deserve it.
If it boils your blood to think about, the person probably falls under the category of an enemy.
As Christians, we know the Bible calls us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) and to pray for those who persecute us. But a lot of Jesus' sayings sound nice on paper. Putting them into practice feels like it kills us from the inside out. Because it goes against what culture tells us to do, and what our old selves would want to do.
How to Combat This: No slight is worth someone's salvation. Forgiveness doesn't come easily, but through our example, people can see what love looks like. Perhaps they can experience a heart change too.
Family can often fall into two of the above categories, but I make it a separate one because family can cause wounds that almost no one else can. Family can divide far greater than any enemy entity can. They are often the hardest people to forgive and the frontlines to our missions fields. Many of us have family members who do not know the Lord.
And because those closest to you know how to hurt you best, the most intense kind of spiritual warfare tends to happen in immediate circles such as these. We often feel tempted to throw in the towel and leave it up to friends or coworkers to witness to cousins or parents.
How to Combat This: We can't choose our families. But we can choose how we treat them. Witnessing to those related to you often takes the most time, and you will often receive the most skepticism from them about your true heart change. Continue to exemplify Jesus' love and continue to have intentional conversations. Know when to step away for boundaries and emotional healing. But also, never cease in praying for them that they may seek the Lord.
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
He is a cross pendant.
He is engraved with a unique Number.
He will mail it out from Jerusalem.
He will be sent to your Side.
Emmanuel
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