January 10

Jonah Three: Lessons of the Second Chance

Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message of judgment I have given you. This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large it took three days to see it all.

Jonah 3:1-3 (NLT)

What I want to do, I will do.

Isaiah 46:10c (NCV)


Our God is the God of the second chance. It was true for Jonah and it was true for Nineveh. Both were recipients of God’s mercy, and both received a second chance.

In reading the book of Jonah it becomes so obvious, God is patient with mankind. The story is full of examples. God’s work with Jonah, his 40-day warning to Nineveh and His gracious response to their repentance as well as His thoughtful talks with Jonah at the end of the book—they all show how much God bends in our direction. He gives us chance after chance to listen, to change and to do things His way. Too many times, we fail to listen, but in the end, one way or another, God does get His way.

I see two lessons here. This story speaks volumes of how we should respond to such a kind, compassionate and loving God, but it gives us more. It shows us how we should behave toward each other: with grace and mercy, with forgiveness and love.

While Jonah learned the first lesson and responded to his merciful God in obedience; it would be awhile before he would see his need to extend the same grace to others. Jonah had forgotten that though the Ninevites were terribly imperfect … so was he!


Father, help me learn these lessons: to love You and to love others as You do! Amen.