God Relented

 The book of Jonah is about God calling Jonah to go to Nineveh and pronounce that He was going to overthrow the city in 40 days. Of course, Jonah did not want to do God's will, so he went the opposite way, and eventually was swallowed by a big fish. Then, he repented and did what God wanted. When Jonah gave them God's decree, they repented of their wickedness in sackcloth and with fasting. (Jonah 3:10) When God saw their sincere repentance, He relented of his punishment. He did not do what He said He would do after all. Some people have a problem with this. They think that God doesn't change His mind like that. I believe He did then, and He does now. Let me explain.

When God makes the decision to bring punishment upon us because of our sins, it is based on our heart condition and on our sinful life. He communicates to us that He is going to punish us. Even though He doesn't say His punishment is conditioned upon our sinful practices, that is the case. There is no need for Him to punish us, if we do not have a hard heart and sinful actions. Therefore, when we sincerely repent and begin to do Gods will, He sees the change. He knows that the reason for us to be punished has vanished, so He relents of what He had said to us. It is not so much that God changed His mind. It is that the circumstances that led to His decree have changed. See what I mean? God loves us, and He doesn't want to harm us. He wants to help us. That is why He pronounces judgment on us, at times. If we listen and repent, He will relent, out of His great love and His joy that we have returned to Him.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Jonah 4 and Micah 1-3.