Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. Jonah, Abraham, David, and Peter all got second chances from God. Is there someone in your life — a parent, a friend, an old relationship — who might need a second chance from you? What’s held you back from offering it?Jonah walked into a genuinely scary situation not on his own confidence but on God’s word. In a culture like ours that prizes competence, credentials, and self-reliance, where is God asking you to do something you don’t feel equipped for — and what would change if you trusted the strength wasn’t meant to be yours to begin with?When you read the “wrath” passages of Scripture, do you tend to skim past them? What might you be missing about God’s character by doing that?The sermon says God’s word came to Jonah, and that a healthy relationship with God involves both speaking and listening. How has God spoken to you in the past — through Scripture, prayer, other people, circumstances? And honestly, are you actually listening for his voice these days, or mostly just talking at him?
