The impact of grudging obedience

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. (Luke 11:29-30 NASB)

Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" (Jonah 4:11 NASB)

As it turns out, we aren't through with ISIS or with Jonah. 

Last night at prayer meeting, we were gathered in small groups to pray for different needs in our church. My small group had finished praying and we were chatting. The fact that Mosul is built on the ruins of Nineveh was such a surprise to me that I had pondered the issue of the Assyrians off and on all day. When I mentioned it in our little group, Jerry Napier said, "Yes. And they repented." In a flash, I had the clearest picture of events as they unfolded.

Jonah did not want to go to his enemies. He despised them. He was not going to Nineveh. When God placed Jonah in his watery prayer retreat, however, he found that obedience was more important than he realized. Jonah went.

I've heard speculation about what Jonah looked like, but all of it is just that. Speculation. There's no way to know if his skin was bleached or damaged by the stomach acid of the big fish. What we do know is that he had been at sea, been thrown overboard, spent three days in a fish, and been vomited onto the shore. 

Jonah didn't dilly-dally around. He headed straight to Nineveh to get his job done. When he walked into Nineveh, he was not likely to have taken time for grooming himself. I'm doubtful he had fresh clothes or a fresh bath. He probably looked like he'd been through a storm, because he had.

The people of Nineveh did not repent because of Jonah's appearance or because of the eloquence of his sermon. They repented because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, who was at work before Jonah took the first step through the city gates. Jonah walked through the city of 120,000 people proclaiming an eight-word sermon. "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." When the citizens of Nineveh heard those words, they were cut to the heart with conviction and repented in sackcloth and ashes, from the king to the least citizen in the city. Everyone repented.

That same power is available to us today. That same God has the same compassion for the people of our Nineveh today. He cares about Mosul and the people there who "do not know the difference between their right and left hand". He cares about the people we consider our enemies, not just ISIS, but all our enemies (personal and corporate). 

The grudging obedience of one man made an eternal difference for 120,000 people in Nineveh. Our obedience can have just as big an impact today. 

What is the obedience to which God is calling you? What eternal difference will He make through you if you choose to follow where He leads?

Today, make a commitment to live as one who has been redeemed and follow as one who loves his Master, no matter where He leads. As you follow, be sure to pray for our modern Assyrians and those in our Nineveh to experience the same transformation that happened in Jonah's day. (ISIS and Mosul as well as all our enemies - domestic and foreign) 

Praying for Nineveh

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. (Luke 11:29-30 NASB)

Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" (Jonah 4:11 NASB)

Much to my surprise, we are not through with Jonah after all. 

The story of Jonah begins with the compassion of God. I generally forget that. Because the book opens with Jonah on the run, in wide-open rebellion, I tend to think the story begins with Jonah. It does not. Jonah's story, like all our stories, begins with the love and compassion of Almighty God.

Nineveh was a city of 120,000 people who were lost. They did not know God and they didn't care that they didn't know Him. What we easily forget is that Nineveh was the capital of Assyria and occupied the "Assyrian Triangle" made up by what is now Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey. The people were fierce warriors and were busy conquering the world. 

Fifty years after God sent Jonah to Nineveh, Assyria invaded the Northern Kingdom of Israel and took them captive. What Israel had no way of knowing was that God had already gone ahead of them to temper their judgment with mercy. 

God had taken note of the spiritual condition of Nineveh and knew (being omnipotent) that He would judge Israel for their apostasy. They would soon be in the hands of the godless people of Nineveh. The best way to protect His people was to go ahead of them and draw their captors to Himself.

Jonah went to Nineveh, preached an eight word sermon, and everyone in that city turned to God. Fifty years later, when Israel was taken into captivity, they went to a country that already knew something of God. There were converts there. Not all of the 120,000 had persevered with their new faith, but some of them had. Even after fifty years, there were still some living who had seen Jonah, who had experienced the great awakening. Faith in God had almost certainly had an impact on the people of Nineveh and the way they treated their captives. 

Jonah hated Assyria and Nineveh, its capital. He knew they were a cruel, wicked people. He did not want to go to them, and did not want them to repent. He would have denied the people of Nineveh the chance to know God. What Jonah couldn't know was that, in denying the people of Nineveh the chance to know God, he was also denying his own people the chance to find mercy in the midst of judgment.

Had Jonah known what God was doing, he'd have rushed to obey. 

Today, there are modern day Assyrians waging war on the world and seeking to gain control of all the territory they can conquer. They are known as ISIS and are based in Syria and northern Iraq (part of the original Assyrian territory). Their capital is Mosul, Iraq, built on the ruins of ancient Nineveh. They are not figurative Assyrians. It is not a figurative Nineveh. They are literal Assyrians. It is a literal Nineveh.

There is a great temptation to view the warriors of ISIS in the same way that Jonah viewed Nineveh, with contempt. God, however, must look at those warriors in the same way that He looked at the people of Nineveh all those centuries ago, with compassion. He longs to bring them to Himself. What if repentance and faith were to come to Mosul, just as it did to its predecessor, Nineveh?

Jesus spoke about our response to our enemies. We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:33), including our modern-day Assyrians, ISIS, and our modern-day Nineveh, Mosul. What, then, should our response be to the terrorists of our day? Our heart should be filled with the same compassion as God's toward the people there. We must relinquish our prejudice toward ISIS and pray with fervor for God to move in the hearts of the people of Mosul and those vicious Assyrians of ISIS, for we do not know what contact we will have with them down the road.

Had Jonah known what the future held, he might have been eager for Nineveh to repent. Let it not be said of us, years from now, that if we had only known what would happen with ISIS, we would have prayed.

May we view those who are our enemies with the eyes and heart of God, and may it change us so that He can change them. 

Ministry Choices and the Savings Jar

Some time ago, I received an email from the ministry sponsoring the disaster preparedness course I'm taking this week. God had provided a new training facility and they were thrilled. When you read "new" what do you assume? Yep. Me, too. I anticipated a brand new, sparkling facility in pristine condition.

Imagine my surprise when I found that the "new facility" is actually an old rehabilitation hospital that has been converted to a safe place for families in transition. I was nervous when I had to call a cell phone to be admitted to the building and was given careful instructions about making sure the door is locked behind me if I leave. After I unloaded my car, I quickly learned that the elevator doesn't work, so I carried my absurd amount of luggage up the stairs. The young woman who unlocked the door helped, for which I was very grateful. 

When we arrived at "my" room, I found four sets of mattresses on the floor. There is a bathroom in our room. It comes complete with a shower that works and a toilet that doesn't. The toilet has a pretty bad leak, so a large plastic container has been duct-taped to the side of the toilet to catch the water. Someone comes by periodically to empty the "collection". I'm not sure why, but black plastic and duct tape have been used to completely secure the entire toilet bowl. Only the pipes are exposed. Bold letters on the duct tape announce "Out of order!!! Do not use!!"  As if we could. 

It was raining the evening I arrived. When we toured the kitchen and dining area, two large plastic containers were strategically positioned in the middle of the dining room floor. The ceiling has some serious leak problems. The containers were there to catch the rain water. 

As you might expect, I was, to put it mildly, very surprised. That surprise turned to shock when I learned that the heat doesn't work in this building. We have a space heater in our room. We wear our coats constantly. Sometimes, I take my sleeping bag to class. I'm embracing the chill. 

It was a question of stewardship for me. If God had provided this new facility, why wasn't the ministry stewarding it better? Truthfully, I assumed I knew the answers to that question, and very nearly left for home that first day. I'm glad I didn't. 

It turned out that the sponsoring ministry is a guest in this facility, which belongs to another ministry that is attempting to sell the building. The sponsoring ministry has chosen not to spend donated money on their own facility. Instead, they use the money that is donated to provide ministry for displaced refugees in Iraq. Not only do they provide food and basic medical care for the refugees, they also provide solar-powered Bibles in Arabic or Farsi with enough volume for 200 people to hear, and SIM cards and mini SIM cards for cell phones with the entire Bible, also written in either Arabic or Farsi. They show the Jesus film to groups of Muslims  to whom they have ministered and have found that 85-90% of the Muslims convert to Christianity. The fields are ripe for harvest and they are bathing it in prayer and bringing it in. 

It turns out that the facility issues are not a question of stewardship. They are a question of priority. You see, this ministry could have facilities or souls, but not both. They chose souls. That sounds dramatic, doesn't it? Could they have a nice facility and bring souls to Jesus? Yes, of course, but many of those dollars being spent in bringing people to Jesus would have to be diverted. From which Muslim would you withhold the gospel in order to have extra toilets? From which child would you withhold food in order to have heat? 

Once I understood the facts, I embraced the cold, the leaks, and the mattresses on the floor. It's not so bad, and it gives me great joy to know that my minimal discomfort frees up harvest resources. This is the reason I started a giving jar. This is the reason I've chosen to live to save. It makes a difference. 

The founder of this ministry has arranged for small prefab houses to be shipped to Iraq. A small home can be assembled by two people in thirty minutes and it costs $1500. My class has decided to sponsor one of those houses so that a family can have shelter until a more permanent home can be found. (Remember, the refugees lost their homes because ISIS conquered their town.)  

In case you've forgotten, my saving jar now has $217.76. I had all kinds of ideas about investing in the kingdom of God. It turns out that God had an idea about that money, too. There are displaced families in Erbil who need a roof over their head. The little sacrifices I have made to save this money seem pretty meager in comparison with what they have lost. My little savings jar contents are being added to my group's offering to purchase a prefab house for refugees. 

Do you know the best part of this story? November's not over yet! The savings jar is still in business!