Willingness
“…for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” Jonah 4:2b
A woman once said to me, “I will never forgive my sister for what she did. NEVER.” She had a bitter look on her face as she told me the story of how she had been wronged by her sister many, many years earlier. Even though much time had passed, her resentment and unforgiveness were still the conclusion of the matter.
In the book of Jonah, God has told Jonah to go to Nineveh, a wicked enemy city, and “cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me” (Jonah 1:2). God intends to cause repentance in the people of Nineveh. He wants to give them a way out of their wickedness, their plight of His coming judgment. He plans to forgive them, and He chooses Jonah to begin the process by proclaiming their future destruction if they do not repent.
As the story unfolds, Jonah wants to run from God and from His crazy plan to forgive such wickedness. He gets on a ship headed away from Nineveh, but God won’t allow him to get far. God sends a storm, the crew throws Jonah overboard, God prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he lives inside the fish for three days, where he repents of his disobedience in great fear. Then the fish vomits him out onto a beach, and God repeats His instructions to Jonah.
Jonah walks to Nineveh, and when he arrives, he simply says, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” It doesn’t sound like he puts a lot of effort into his speech. He utters a minimal sentence of truth, and his job is done. But God goes to work. The people repent immediately, and the king proclaims a fast for the whole city, telling everyone to cry out to God for forgiveness. God sees all this, and relents from destroying the city.
Jonah did not want God to forgive Nineveh. But God valued the people of that city, as He does all people. He knows we are all sinners, and intends that all people should repent and be forgiven.
What happens when we refuse to forgive others? What is this saying to them about God’s willingness to forgive? What are we telling them when we have confessed we are believers and followers of Jesus, yet we deny God’s mercy for other sinners besides ourselves? If God has forgiven us, should we not extend the same to others—even, and perhaps especially, those we consider our enemies?
God instructs us to do exactly that. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Oh Father, help us to forgive our enemies. We know this is right in Your eyes. Amen.
It’s hard when it’s a family member you can’t avoid. I’m learning to declare to God that I forgive them as an act of the will, and to ask Him to help me see them the way He does. Learning to communicate in healthier ways to head off the painful situations helps too. Rather than wish I’d learned all this a long time ago, I will thank God for His mercy in changing my heart.