The Sovereignty of God

By Jasmine Britto, Kerala, India

Day 10

Jonah 3:4-5
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ”Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

The people of Nineveh believed God. The Bible doesn’t say they believed Jonah, they
believed God.

Romans 10:17 says, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

God’s word gives faith and his kindness brings repentance. To believe in God, people
should be given an opportunity to hear the word. Without hearing the word, no one can be saved. Salvation comes from hearing the message but it doesn’t depend upon how eloquent or how powerful we are but how powerful God is. He is the one who moves hearts through his word. So, even though Jonah gave a half-hearted sermon it is the power of God that moved the hearts of those wicked people – who were known for burning children alive, torturing and leaving people out in the scorching sun to death.

God’s word has an amazing miraculous power to change any wicked heart.

The Ninevites not only believed in God but they also repented. Verse 5 says they declared a fast and put on sack cloth. Sack cloth in these times is a symbol of total brokenness and mourning. When they recognized the weight of their sins, they were broken and were mourning over their sin.

This reminds us of Psalm 51:17:

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

Ninevites’ brokenness is validated by the transformation in their lives and their commitment to change. The principle here is that belief always represents itself in action. If we simply say we are broken and continue to turn to our sin then we haven’t really reached the place of true repentance. Turning from our sinful ways and turning to God’s ways is true repentance.

Are we sharing God’s word with people who need salvation?

Are there areas of sin in our lives where we need to repent or do we cling to our ways of change?

Prayer Focus

Today let’s ask God to help us identify areas we need to turn away from and turn to His ways.