Should I not have pity on Nineveh?

In my personal Bible study, I am making an attempt to look back on the stories of the Old Testament and see their relevance today in my life. There are so many stories that we learn when we are young, but miss the point entirely in our older years. We treat them as childish fables and move on. As I was studying this week, I began to rethink the situation of Jonah in relation to what expects of those who answer his call. It is in this call to Jonah that we can understand our search for our calling in life.

1. God placed a very specific calling before Jonah. Go to Nineveh (Jonah 1: 1). Time and again God tells Jonah where he wants him to go. Nineveh was described as a great city that had done terrible things against God.
2. Resistance to God’s call is impossible- Jonah tried to avoid the God’s demand. He ran away and boarded a boat for Tarshish to escape the presence of God. However, God had set this on Jonah, and would not let him escape this calling.
3. Jonah was seemingly proud of his calling- Jonah felt some weight from this call, and was not afraid to tell those around him why he was traveling (v 10).
4. The calling brought with it a sense of responsibility - Jonah was remorseful for the trouble that he cause the sailors because of his attempt to run, and offered to throw himself overboard (v 12).
5. Jonah nearly died because he did not answer God’s call- The prayer of Jonah described in Chapter 2 of the book provides some insight into the mind expanding experience of Jonah. What he describes here paints a picture of his own drowning but rejoices in being saved by God.
6. Jonah’s calling only required him to inform the people- Jonah followed out his calling to the letter. He was required to tell the people of Nineveh their sin, and the consequences of their actions. He did just that. No more, No Less.
7. Jonah found it difficult to have pity on the people of Nineveh- Jonah became bitter because God spared the people of the city, and began to grumble and complain about their salvation. God used a plant to show Jonah that if he could have pity on a plant, then God could have pity on Nineveh.

All these aspects sound similar to the calling of Christ. We have a specific calling that is inescapable to those we serve God, and we have the responsibility to bear witness to our calling in one way or another. For us, failure to answer the call of Christ results in death, but he finds a way to use our darkest times to bring us to that call. He only asks that we share the story of Christ, and understand that we do so out of pity on the lost souls of this world. Those who are a great city and are living against God need to hear that message of God, and maybe their story can turn out like Nineveh.