The Sovereignty of God

By Jasmine Britto, Kerala, India

Part 9

Jonah 3:3-4
Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ”Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh, the great city. The Bible doesn’t say that Jonah waited for what God would want him to say but he began to go into the city and started preaching. He proclaimed, “Forty more days Nineveh will be overturned.”

Jonah’s sermon had only five words in the Hebrew language. A lot is missing in his sermon. He didn’t explain why or who is going to overthrow them or what they could do to stop this fate from happening. There was not any sort of hope or call to repentance in his message.

Jonah might have been physically obeying God but verbally he was withholding a lot of information -- maybe because he wanted to make sure the Ninevites did not repent. But from his message one thing was clear: the time was short and judgment is real. And the reality is the same for us today.

Romans 3:23 says we all have sinned and Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Apart from a savior, apart from Jesus, we are all headed for judgment and our time is short. Life is but a mist.

So, if life is short and judgment is sure, the need for salvation is the most important thing for a human.

Prayer focus

Today, let us take some time to thank Jesus for our salvation. Thank the people whom God uses in our lives to help us know Him better.