We Are People of Obedience

 “Arise! And go……” Jonah 1:2

A couple of years ago, I met a Christian woman who was originally from Nineveh, which is now in Northern Iraq. It caused me to think of what happened there in Jonah's time. You know the story well.

In Jonah’s day, the people of Nineveh were so wicked, even Jonah did not want to preach to them. For one thing, Jonah was a great lover of Israel and his loyalty was fierce. And Nineveh was a city considered to be filled with people against Israel. In truth, Jonah did not want to deliver a message that would call the people of Nineveh to repentance. He did not want God to spare them! Sure enough, when Jonah finally delivered the message to Nineveh – via a pathway that took him through the belly of a whale, they repented.

Jonah 3:10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Jonah was not seeing the people of Nineveh from Heaven’s view point. He saw them from an earthly perspective with a focus on their behavior that allowed prejudice to affect his ability to share God’s Goodness with people who were in desperate need! God sees people from a different point of view. He sees mankind through the finished work of the Cross. He sees mankind in Christ and we must see as He sees.

From the beginning God’s desire was to have a family. We know that He chose to bring that family of promise through Abraham, a man of obedience. God knows the plans that He has for each person. And all His plans are for good, hope, and purpose. Even Abraham was called out from amongst a people who worshipped pagan gods, to become the ‘father of many nations’.

Back to the modern day woman from Nineveh. We were attending an Aglow event and she had come forth to pray for her people who lived in Northern Iraq, a nation currently under the influence of another spirit. As she stood at the mic and cried out for her people in that ancient land, something began to stir within me.

In the current age that we are in, some find it easy to write off people groups as being wicked or not worthy of God’s love. Judgements and generalizations are made, yet the truth that Jesus died for all cancels out every judgement. We withhold the Light of salvation and redemption because, like Jonah, we are looking through an emotion-based, earthly view. God NEVER turns His back on anyone. Christ died for ALL. (John 3:16) God never turns His back on those who repent, who cry out to Him to come into their lives. And neither do Aglow people!