When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

 

“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.  But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

​

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. -Jonah 3:6-10

 

We often speak of the story of Jonah, and we focus on the consequence of disobedience which is a huge takeaway that we gain from Jonah's story. As we discussed on last week, it is imperative that we obey God so that we do not bring harm upon others due to our failure to obey God's instructions. It is also imperative that we are cautious of who we "ride" with so that we are not put in harm's way due to another individual's actions. Beyond these lessons, there is another facet to consider as we reflect on Jonah's story, one that many of us may not be able to honestly address. And that is what do we do when our enemies repent?

​

We may often find ourselves in a situation where someone does something to us that is wrong, flat out vicious, deceitful, even harmful. And we pray and put it in God's hands realizing that He can handle the situation better than we can. Then as we "trust" God to handle the situation, we constantly find ourselves waiting for the "sign" that this individual is paying for that very "wrong" thing that they did to us.

​

Sometimes instead of hearing about anything going wrong with this individual, it instead appears that they are excelling and "living their best life". They are having success after success after success and seem to be prospering in every aspect of their lives. We start to feel "a certain kind of way" because here we are having been innocent in the situation and had this "very unfortunate" thing to be done to us and while we are dealing with the mess that they left behind, they are "turning up" having the time of their lives. We cannot understand how God is "letting them get away" with what they did. We may even start to grow weary questioning what's the benefit of doing the right thing because it sometimes feels like it gets us nowhere. There are a few things that we must come to understand:

​

First, don't lose your trust in God by being deceived by what you see. If you put it in God's hands you must trust that He knows exactly how to handle it. He knows how to handle the person. There are times when it may take months or years for someone to "pay the price" for the wrong that they've done. We see and hear many stories whether real or fictional, about individuals who commit crimes and move along living their best lives never expecting their wrongdoing to catch up with them and just when they think they got away with it, there goes a knock on their door. "God's timing" is not "our timing".  His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). We must stop looking for the signs that God is doing what you trusted Him to do and simply trust Him and keep it moving. If you are constantly watching the life of your enemies waiting for them to "fall" then how much of your own life are you living?

​

We must also realize that people who don't have conviction, even if going through a rough patch will not wear it on their sleeve. There are some people that keep right on living being who they are not allowing things to phase them even if they are experiencing difficulties.

​

There are times in which your enemies will "go extra hard" trying to imitate a life that portrays things as being "all good" just so you won't know that they are dealing with the repercussions of what they did to you. That same person that cheated on you, that betrayed you, that backstabbed you may strategically be doing all that they can to act as if their life is on top of the world just so you don't know how miserable they are. You have to stop frustrating yourself waiting to see what's going to happen to them. Quite frankly, once you put it in God's hands, it's None of Your Business.

​

In Jonah 4:5, after Jonah spoke the words to the city of Nineveh as God had commanded, he actually went out of the city, and scripture states, he "sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city." Jonah wanted to see what would become of this city that defiled God. We sometimes have this same attitude when we feel like people should pay a price for the harmful things that they may have afflicted upon us. Here it is someone who not that long ago was in the belly of a whale waiting to see someone else come to their demise. Jonah wanted to know that his efforts were not in vain just as we at times want to know that our prayers and our efforts to give the situation over to God and let Him fight the battle for us was not in vain.

​

Secondly, what we must understand is that at the end of the day, no matter how hateful, how envious, how scheming, how conniving, some of our enemies are, if they find it in their hearts to repent, and they humble themselves and ask God for forgiveness, God WILL NOT turn His back on them. God will save them. God is not going to deny them salvation no matter how much He may love us. Maybe it took for them to do this "wrong thing" to you to realize that they needed a change, that they needed God. You never know if God used you as a vessel to bring them into repentance. You don't know if God allowed you to have to suffer the pain so that it can result in His gain. God had to allow Jesus to suffer to save us so we must accept the fact that we are not exempt from encountering experiences where we may have to be hurt so that someone else can be saved. We may not like it but there isn't anything that we can do about it.

 

If you read the entire book of Jonah, you will discover that Jonah got angry with God. God forgave the city of Nineveh after they surrendered and called out to Him vowing to turn from their wicked ways. Jonah was so upset that he told God that he would be "better off dead." Why Jonah allowed this to upset him to this extreme, we don't know. We do read the dialogue in which Jonah tells God that Him forgiving the people of Nineveh was the exact reason why he first chose to flee instead of following God's instructions to go to the city. He actually prayed to God telling God that he knew that because He was a loving, compassionate, and forgiving God that He was going to forgive the people if they turned from their wicked ways. It almost feels like Jonah felt like he wasted his time. He did not see what the point was of God sending him to warn the people if God was going to turn around and forgive them. Jonah missed the point that God "used him as a messenger" to save the people. It took for God to send someone to Nineveh to shake the people up, making them realize that they were about to be destroyed. There are a lot of people who go around inflicting harm, pain, and suffering on people and because they get away with it, they see no cause for them to turn from their wicked ways. However, if they are finally put in a situation where God sends a "messenger", "a police", a "lawyer", or some other type of message, that might just be enough to make them realize how serious their actions were and cause them to "do the right thing".

​

Sometimes we simply have to let go and stop waiting and watching for our enemies to be destroyed. Jonah praised God for compassion after God had the "whale" to swallow him up. God did not destroy Jonah because of his disobedience. God gave Jonah another chance. Yet, this same Jonah sat down upset and eagerly waiting for the people of Nineveh to be destroyed because of their wickedness. Clearly Jonah probably weighs sin on a scale. In his mind maybe being disobedient to God was not the same or not as bad as the wickedness of the people of Nineveh.

​

At times we all fall victim to this same manner of thinking. We may become disheartened when we don't see the destruction that we may want to come upon our enemies occur forgetting that we too have sinned in some way shape or form. You may have knowingly kept the extra change that the cashier gave you and later on felt guilty and repented and God forgave you. The person that hurt you could have told a lie about you to your supervisor that caused you to lose your job and after realizing what they did, they may have asked God for forgiveness and God forgave them. In your eyes you may say, "it's not the same" because the wrong change was given to you, furthermore, the cashier did not lose their job. However, the point is both acts were wrong, and God forgave them both.

​

If we start allowing ourselves to put sin on a scale and weigh it in comparison to one another, we will always feel like everyone that hurts us or inflicts pain on us will always be at greater fault compared to what we may have done. When someone harms us, we may find ourselves asking God, "What did I ever do that was so wrong?", in order to rationalize why this level of pain was inflicted on you when nothing that you ever did compares to what was done to you.

​

Now if we look at the behaviors and actions of people are there some that are worse than others? Absolutely! If we look at it in a natural sense, someone lying about how much money they made on their last job in order to get a better starting salary is nowhere near the same as someone purposely running someone over because they owed them money. In a natural sense yes, some behaviors and actions are worse than others. But when it comes to the forgiveness of sins, it's not so. God does not forgive a lie and then refuses to forgive fornication. In the same sense God does not forgive fornication and then refuses to forgive someone that steals. Regardless of what we may do to one another God forgives us all. God does not measure the sin and then decide on if it is worthy of forgiveness. Matthew 12:31 states," Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." According to scripture, the only thing that is not forgiven is blasphemy of the Holy Ghost.

​

As much as we may not like it, we have to accept the fact that God is a compassionate God who will not turn His back on those who earnestly seek Him. He will not turn His back on those who earnestly ask for His forgiveness. This means that as evil of an act our enemies may have done to us, if they repent to God, He won't reject them. In Ezekiel 18:21-23 we see that God plans are not to allow people to remain wicked so that they can suffer. God's hope is that men will turn from their wicked ways and repent and be saved. Therefore, God is not going to turn His back on your enemies and deny them an opportunity to receive salvation just because He loves you. God does not delight in punishing people which is why He does give us an opportunity to repent, an opportunity to confess our sins, and an opportunity to right our wrongs.

​

Jonah's behavior is also a cause for us to reflect on another topic of discussion, our own willingness to forgive. We know that Jonah was upset because God did not destroy the people of Nineveh as He said He would. Now was Jonah upset because he took it personal when people defiled God, we don't know but even if that were the case, God forgave them and wiped their slate clean, gave them a new start, and Jonah was still in his feelings.

​

Jonah could have said, "Thank you God for the mercy that you have shown your people.", but this was not the case. As hard as it is, in order to prevent ourselves from being "stuck in Nineveh" waiting for our enemies to be destroyed we have to ask God to help us to forgive.

​

It is imperative that we seek God to help us to forgive because some of the things that people have done toward us are "heavy". At times some of these trespasses are so bad that we may not even want to be in the same room as the individual. Some people may have wronged us so badly that we don't want anyone to mention their names to us. We may even go to the extreme of deleting any trace of their existence out of our lives. We'll delete them from our friends lists and delete their text. We'll block their numbers. We'll get rid of any gifts that they may have given us or discard any photos that we might have of them. And if that makes you feel better then, "do you boo!" But even after doing all

of that, you are not going to be able to truly move on until you forgive them. As long as you carry the resentment and the agony of what they did to you, you are also carrying them along with you everywhere you go. Understand that forgiveness does not mean that you forget. To be honest, forgiveness does not even mean that you get over it right away. Some things take time to disperse    but those feelings cannot disperse if you don't first "release" them. Take the step to forgive so that    you can release the weight and the pain and ask God to help the dispersion to occur. Sometimes when someone does us wrong, all the feelings are not released in the same way. Each feeling may involve a different step in order to free yourself from it. And as you release these feelings little by little you will start to see the difference that it makes on different areas of your life as these feelings of hurt, pain, resentment, disappointment, shame, betrayal, and whatever it is that you are feeling are released from you.

 

​There are those that intentionally and willfully hurt us and there are those who had no clue that what they did would have affected us in the way that it did. There are some people who live life clueless to their actions. Even God knows that some of us have very serious "issues". In Jonah 4:11 God states, "And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty-thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left…" God even considers that some people have some very serious "personal issues". They are oblivious, lack the skills that they need to make sound decisions, and even a tad bit naïve. We too must consider this as well.

​

Even in the midst of having to deal with what our enemies did, we have to remember who is in control. God had to stand still and watch Jesus endure the cross in order for His purpose to be served and sometimes He has to stand still and watch our enemies do what they do to us whether it is for the purposes of saving them or God saving us. If we were to reflect on it, we might just discover that the "thing" that our enemies did to us brought us closer to God. And in many cases, we may even realize that we are in a better position now than we would have been if our enemies had not done what they did to us. It may be hard to admit at first but if God allowed it, we must know that it was with a "specific intent". Sometimes it may be revealed to us and sometimes it won't.

​

So back to our original question, what do we do when our enemies repent? We let God be God. God forgives and it's as simple as that. Their salvation is between them and God even if we are the vessel that God used to bring them to repentance. We may not ever know what our enemies' relationship with God is. We won't ever know if some of them accepted salvation or not. Does that mean that our enemies won't pay for what they did to us? No, it doesn't. Does it mean that their punishment may not be as harsh? We don't know. The truth is it is not our concern neither is it our mission to figure it out (especially for the purposes of our own gratification). When we are where we are supposed to be in our relationship with God, our intent won't be to see our enemies harmed because they harmed us. It's not a judgement call because we are all human and if we are to be truthful no one wants their enemy to inflict severe havoc on their lives and then win the Powerball. However, if they do, we have to trust that God knows what He's doing. We have to trust that God is skilled enough not just to fight the battle but to also determine how the war ends. Just as God considered the many people that were in Nineveh, sometimes He might also consider who our enemies are connected to.

​

We must realize that even if our enemies may be evil in nature, they may be connected to someone else who's not wicked, who may be God-fearing, who may be keeping them lifted in prayer, who may be favored by God and because of God's faithfulness to that individual, your enemies may have grace and mercy imparted upon them. There is a song that talks about "a praying grandmother",

and many people have testified to the fact that in all of their sin, because of the prayers of those around them whether it was a praying grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, sis, or brother, their lives were spared.

​

In the same sense there may be people connected to you who may have "deserved" certain consequences or punishment but did not receive them because of God's favor on you or because of your prayers. When we pray about our enemies, would we want someone else to pray that same prayer about someone that we loved and wanted to protect? We have to be conscience and careful of what we wish upon others regardless of how evil they may have been to us. Sometimes the greatest and most effective prayer we can pray about our enemies is rooted in three simple words, "Lord save them!" Our prayer should be for them to find salvation if they don't already have it. This is imperative because just as God promises to forgive the wicked if they turn from their wicked ways as highlighted in Ezekiel 18:21-23, if we read further verse 24 states that if the righteous become wicked, they will be punished. We never know when we may find ourselves having fallen astray. We can't wish for the destruction of our enemies that sin and want compassion when we fall short.

​

When it comes to our enemies there is something else that we must realize and it is also supported by scripture therefore, we can stand firmly on it, Psalm 23:5 states, " Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies…" Sometimes the greatest consequence that God can place upon your enemies is for them to see you overcome their trespass. For them to see you walk out the fire unharmed. For them to see you come out of the lion's den without a scratch on your hand. The greatest vengeance is sometimes simply seeing you succeed. And God knows this. We, however, have to stop thinking that "destruction" is the only way for our enemies to suffer. Your being able to show your enemies that you can move on is the greatest victory you can gain from the war that they "tried" to bring into your life.

​

It is not easy when someone wrongs you to not have a part of you that hopes that they won't get away with it but if truth be told this cannot be our focus. It is challenging but our focus should be, "God what are you trying to teach me?" and "Lord, help me to move on from this!" We have to remember that God promises to fight for us, to neither leave nor forsake us.

​

Therefore, regardless of how He chooses to deal with those that harm us, it is completely up to Him. Some may have the same pain inflicted upon them as they inflicted upon us as we see in the story of Daniel. Some may have to humble themselves before us just as Joseph's brothers had to do to him. And some might be forgiven and saved just as God saved the people of Nineveh when they repented. Either way, we cannot sit and watch, awaiting their demise. In last week's blog, we had to "Throw Jonah off the Boat" but this week we all have to tell Jonah to "Go Home!". And if you are realizing that you are Jonah, sitting and watching your enemies, click off their social media timeline, stop passing by their favorite hangouts, stop trying to secretly get the scoop from someone who they're connected to and give it to God. "Go home" and prepare for the next thing that God has for you. Most importantly if your enemies did repent after realizing what they did to you, do me a favor, it may be hard, but rejoice because although you may feel like you lost, God "gained" a soul and for that we must always be happy.