Nineveh Listens to God: The Story of Jonah

Jonah might be the most fascinating of all the Old Testament prophets. It's not a long book, so it's worth reading the whole thing.

A consistent theme throughout the Bible is that, despite out sinful natures, if we listen to God and repent of our ways, God will forgive us. In the story of Jonah, God sends Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh: repent of your ways or face destruction. Jonah's message can be summed up in chapter 2, verse 8 (ESV),

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

In contrast to much of the Old Testament, the people of Nineveh take this message to heart, and they repent! As Jesus notes in Matthew 12:41 (ESV),

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

So the question for us is: Do we "pay regard to vain idols"? That is, even if we believe in God, do we push God out of our minds to focus on earthy matters, such as money, career, gossip, immorality, etc.? Worse, do we try to justify such behavior on earthly terms? If so, we are forsaking God's love and peace. In our prayers, we should repent of these ways and make God our priority.