Prayer in Temptation iv
Jonah 3:1-10 (CEV)
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
3 Once again the Lord told Jonah 2 to go to that great city of Nineveh and preach his message of doom.
3 Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh. The city was so big that it took three days just to walk through it. 4 After walking for a day, Jonah warned the people, “Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!”
5 They believed God’s message and set a time when they would go without eating to show their sorrow. Then everyone in the city, no matter who they were, dressed in sackcloth.
6 When the king of Nineveh heard what was happening, he also dressed in sackcloth; he left the royal palace and sat in dust. 7-9 Then he and his officials sent out an order for everyone in the city to obey. It said:
None of you or your animals may eat or drink a thing. Each of you must wear sackcloth, and you must even put sackcloth on your animals.
You must also pray to the Lord God with all your heart and stop being sinful and cruel. Maybe God will change his mind and have mercy on us, so we won’t be destroyed.
10 When God saw that the people had stopped doing evil things, he had pity and did not destroy them as he had planned.
Who needs to repent here?
The messenger?
The people?
The ruler?
Me?
All have strayed from what they were called to,
what was asked of them.
All knew God’s way
and chose their own,
thought they knew better,
that they could steer their own way.
Yet
whoever we are,
wherever we are,
the hope is
that we can come back from that;
realise our error,
come to God
in sorrow,
in regret,
in true penitence,
turning,
knowing,
confessing,
seeking to be right again.
Lord,
with all my heart,
I pray
that I may not choose the wrong way,
my way,
but know your way
and come back to it.
May I stop
and turn to you.
In ashes
and dust,
I come,
that your life
may flow
in and through me
again
O Love That Will Not Let Me Go
Thank you for your mercy,
your forgiveness,
your love
Pam's Perambulation 