Our Merciful God!​

Nineveh was the last capital of the Assyrian empire. It is now the present-day city of Mosul in Iraq. We know how reluctant the prophet Jonah was to travel to Nineveh as instructed by the Lord. Through the belly of a whale, he was escorted per say and spit out on land to do the Lord’s bidding. It is hard to believe that Jonah’s heart was “into saving the people of Nineveh.” The Assyrians and Hebrews were arch enemies. Walking through the city, he proclaimed, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”

God’s words so touched the hearts of the people of Nineveh. When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out. So just as God’s word touched the hearts of the Ninevites, it can move us to our own repentance and deeper faith. God’s love is so powerful that it can move entire nations to repentance.