Pity for the City

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 281, Pity for the City.

"And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?" Jonah 4:11.

This is the final verse of the book of Jonah. And notice how it ends — not with Jonah answering, not with a tidy scene of reconciliation. It ends with a question from God hanging in the air. The whole book was built to arrive right here.

Quick recap: God sends Jonah to preach repentance to Nineveh, the great enemy city. Jonah runs — not because he fears failure, but because he fears success. He knows God is merciful, and he doesn't want Nineveh forgiven. He wants it destroyed. After the fish, after the preaching, after the whole city repents, Jonah sits outside, furious, waiting for God to change His mind. And that's where God asks the final question: "Should not I pity this great city?"

Notice the scale: more than 120,000 people. People who, the text says, "do not know their right hand from their left" — an expression describing deep moral and spiritual confusion. These aren't religious people striving hard; they're lost people, without any compass at all. And yet that is precisely what moves God's compassion, not His contempt.

And look at that small detail at the end — "and also much cattle." Almost funny, isn't it? God cares even about Nineveh's livestock. This isn't poetic exaggeration; it's God's heart spilling out over every living thing He made, without ranking who "deserves" His care.

Now, let me ask you something, gently: is there a group of people, or maybe one specific person, you secretly believe doesn't deserve God's mercy? Someone who hurt you, a group you judge from a distance, a nation or community that feels too far from grace. Jonah felt that way about Nineveh. And God exposes that feeling with a simple question.

The truth is the distance between Jonah's heart and God's heart is the same distance that sometimes exists between our own heart and the Father's. We want justice for others and grace for ourselves. God wants grace for everyone — because He sees every life, every confusion, every lost person as someone He made and someone He loves.

So today, I want to invite you to do something simple: think of that person or group you've already written off in your mind. And pray, asking God for His own heart toward them. Don't ask Him to change His mind about them — ask Him to change yours.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.