God Of Second Chances!
"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.”
Jonah 3:1-2
It was not uncommon in the Old Testament for “the word of the Lord”
to come to God’s prophets again and again. It happened to
Samuel,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and others. It also
happened
to Jonah: Word of the Lord came to Jonah the first time (Jonah
1:1)
and then the second time (Jonah 3:1). With the other prophets,
the
“second time” meant additional prophetic utterances they were to
say.
But with Jonah, the “second time” was because Jonah had failed
to
speak God’s word the first time. Jonah was a disobedient
prophet.
God commissioned Jonah to go east to Assyria, to the capital of
Nineveh and deliver a message of judgment. But Jonah fled
west
toward Spain because he feared the Assyrians. You know the
story: Jonah ended up in the sea where he was swallowed
by
a great fish. Jonah repented and called on the Lord and
was
delivered. God gave him a second
chance.
Don’t let your past keep you from trusting
God for a second (or third, or fourth) chance.
The God of grace loves to forgive.
"Forgiveness is to be
set loose from sins."
G. Campbell Morgan
