Forty More Days

On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The Ninevites believed God.

Jonah 3:4-5

And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land (2:10). Whew, a bit of drama! In my mind’s eye I see Jonah shaking off the gastric juices of that big fish with a shudder. What a relief!

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you” (3:1-2). This time Jonah obeyed.

So Jonah began the 500 mile trek to Nineveh. Hmm—wonder what he mulled over in his mind with all that time on the road. Did he sing songs of worship? Did the psalms come to mind over and over? Or was he still reluctantly dragging his heels, trying to figure out how to deter God’s intended mission? Whichever, Jonah did deliver God’s message as God gave it to him: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (3:4).    

Now, the Ninevites “were given to cruelty and brutality and mob rule” as Vernon McGee tells it in his online Thru the Bible commentary. Their wickedness had certainly caught God’s attention (1:2). But the sentiment of the message had been altered ever so slightly by three little words: forty more days! 

Talk about rapid response. First the people, then the king, believed God…declared a fast…put on sackcloth…and sat down in the dust (3:5-6). The king made it official with his call to urgent prayer: “Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish” (3:9).   

The reputation of the Almighty had preceded Him. Stories of God’s nature—of His justice, and of His goodness—travelled far and wide in the ancient world. Certainly the sailors on the boat from Joppa couldn’t keep quiet about how God was in control of the raging sea. And who wouldn’t have heard of Jonah’s return from the belly of the fish!

God is certainly the God of second chances, isn’t He? He had seen the depth of not only Jonah’s distress, but his regret: What I have vowed I will make good (2:9). And now the Lord’s heart has been softened by the repentance of the Ninevites: He had compassion and did not bring about the destruction he had threatened (3:10).

 How many second chances are in your rearview mirror? Praise God!     

Nancy P

All Scripture quotations are from the NIV 1973, 1978, 1984, unless otherwise noted.