Then God Saw Their Works

“Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.   And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? 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 3:1-10) NKJV

We saw last week that the iniquities and sins in this nation have turned the many blessings from God to curses. Oil boom has become doom. Our human brain has became drain. Our natural and mineral resources have turned to recourses. We were marching forward with other nations, now we have been left behind and have turned to crawl backwards. Our Naira has been so devalued that we cannot believe ourselves when we look at our passports. We exchanged less than one Naira for one Dollar in 1986 and now we exchange One Hundred and Fifty Naira for one Dollar. Our National debt has become a mathematical issue for our computer graduates. In all ways, we are experiencing the heavy hand of God. We cry and no one hears. I met a number of people who told me “God is either dead or insensitive to our cries. If He is neither of the two, there must be a thick blanket of cloud that sheds Nigeria from Him.”

The blanket of cloud is the thick cloud of sin unconfessed and unforgiven. We have sinned as a nation, as a people and as individuals. There are a few that call His name in truth. Others play the guy with God – making a show of religion without acknowledging the power in it. There is no true repentance. Often we have heard of calls for a national day of prayers. How can such prayers be effective when both those who called for the prayers and those who are expected to offer the prayers are insincere? In one breath they call for prayers, in another, they give orders for the poor man to be defrauded; the widow to be denied justice and the servant of God to be imprisoned for telling them that they have done something wrong.

Nineveh sinned like we have today. God sent His prophet Jonah to proclaim to them that in forty days Nineveh would be no more. The Prophet Jonah went after some hesitation on his own part. He learnt his own lessons. We shall discuss Jonah at a more convenient time. What was the effect of Jonah’s message on the  populace of Nineveh? By the time of Jonah, the wickedness in Nineveh (modern Assyria) had become legendary. But they heeded the message of Jonah, believed God, and proclaimed a fast. This brought to Nineveh, one of the greatest revivals ever recorded in the Scripture. It also brought back to them blessing from God. One man was behind the return to God.

It is not that the message was very pungent. All that the prophet said was; “Yet in forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” (verse 4) Can you compare that with the messages our numerous Reverends give during our independence day every year? God gave them the messages for Nigeria just as He did with Nineveh.

Let us see what made their own prayer effective.

• The people of Nineveh believed God. Whereas in the case of the people of Nineveh, the people believed God and His message through His servant, but here, the message has been thrown off with the messenger. We did not believe God.

• In Nineveh they proclaimed a National fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. They had an inward looking at themselves, agreed with God that they merited God’s punishment for their sins.

• In Nineveh the word came to the king and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. The king acknowledged that he was in the same mess with the masses; he acknowledged that it was God who put him on the throne and brought himself low before that God.

• In Nineveh the king caused a decree to be published which did not exempt anybody including the nobles and the beasts, saying, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.” This was an act of repentance - godly sorrow that will never be repented of.

• In Nineveh, the king ordered all men and beasts to be covered with sackcloth; and all should cry mightily to God.  “But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands”.  The king of Nineveh did not try to explain away the sins of Nineveh; he acknowledged that he was part of the problem. He also acknowledged that the only source of restoration was God.

• In Nineveh, the king reverenced God and feared the anger of God. So he did something about the warning of God.

• The result of the revival crusade led by the king of Nineveh is expressed in the following words: “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.” (verse 10)

God will say the same of Nigeria, if we do what Nineveh did. Are you the man that will lead Nigeria in this path of revival? God is looking and waiting for the man to say “Here I am, send me”

God bless you all.