A King’s Invitation to Prayer

FOCUS TEXT

Jonah 3:1-10

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

DAILY BYTE

Today we continue our focus on prayer. We will reflect on the King of Nineveh’s decree that called his people to repentance and prayer. After prophet Jonah had refused God’s call to proclaim God’s Word in Nineveh, he does obey God’s voice the second time it commands him to do so. Jonah rises and proclaims the message that God entrusted him to communicate to the people of Nineveh. God’s message through Jonah has an immediate effect. Scripture tells us that the people of Nineveh believed God’s message, that they humbled themselves before God and repented of their sin. Upon listening to God’s message, the king of Nineveh emitted a decree calling his people and the animals under their care to a time of fasting and mourning. In his decree he urges his people to cry mightily to God. God’s message proclaimed to Nineveh moves the people of that great city to turn from their evil ways and repent before God. God our Lord then shows the people of Nineveh great mercy.

Jonah’s message was one of judgment. He initially refused to communicate it to Nineveh because, knowing that they were an evil people, he did not want God to spare them. Jonah is eventually faithful and proclaims God’s Word to Nineveh. You and I have also been entrusted with God’s Word. The message that God has placed in our hands is one of love and mercy. The message that God has given us has an incalculable capacity to transform, heal, and restore. When Jonah proclaimed God’s message to Nineveh, the people were moved to prayer. The people in the highest echelons of power in Nineveh were moved to repentance and prayer.

Our nations and cities need to hear God’s message, the message that God has entrusted in our hands. You and I enjoy the blessed privilege of being able to communicate with God openly and freely and thus enjoy a relationship with God. We must be willing to share God’s loving message of mercy with those around us, we must be intentional and persistent in doing so. How wonderful it would be for those who hear God’s message through us to be moved to prayer. How wonderful it would be for God’s loving message of mercy to reach those who are in the high echelons of power in our cities and nations. How wonderful it would be for us to see our people, the people of our cities, our nations, and our world believing in God’s word and being moved to repentance. May God lead us to proclaim God’s loving message effectively to those around us.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Father, we praise you for you are a God who is great in mercy and slow to anger. We pray for your Holy Spirit to guide us to be able to proclaim your loving Word effectively with those around us. We pray for those who are in positions of authority over us, especially those whose decisions have a direct effect on our society and our world. May your Holy Spirit turn their hearts towards you. May our people, our nations, and our world be transformed by your love. Through Jesus Christ we pray, amen.