RELUCTANT TO PREACH
This entry was posted on 12-03-2008 and is filed under Devotional.
I
have always been amazed at the power of God’s Word when it is preached. Take
Jonah for example. God told him to go to Nineveh and preach to that wicked
city. Jonah didn’t want to go (because he knew God would forgive them if they
repented), so he boarded a ship and went on a cruise. You know the story. A big
fish swallowed him. Jonah’s attitude was so rotten that even the fish couldn’t
stomach him. He burped him on the shore and this time Jonah headed to Nineveh
to hold his revival meeting.
The
Bible says that the city of Nineveh “repented
at the preaching of Jonah” (Matt. 12:41). Now think about that for awhile.
Jonah had to be drug “kicking and screaming” to his preaching point. He was a
nationalist and hated the Ninevehites. He hoped God would destroy them. His
message was curt, short, and void of grace: “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). The
text doesn’t say it but I imagine Jonah thought, “I hope, I hope, I hope!” So
it is truly amazing to read that the wicked citizens of notorious Nineveh
proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth. The king himself arose from his throne,
put on sackcloth, sat in ashes, and issued a decree that everyone else –
including the animals! – should do the same. And some people say that preaching
is foolishness and has no power! Hey, folks! Read the book of Jonah…and repent!
