One of my most favourite passages in the Bible comes from Jonah chapter 4 verse 2:
I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
Look at the use of the verb from the noun knowledge “knew”. Jonah was speaking in anger at the compassion of the Lord. It is not that he just came to the realisation or knowledge at that moment, Jonah was saying that he knew, from previously acquired knowledge or experience. I’ll come back to my opening statement or “gambit” as it is called in chess, and its relevance to faith.
Jonah was angry that the Lord was relenting and having compassion on the people of Nineveh, the Lord had told him to go and warn the people to relent, Jonah didn’t want to go, because the Ninevans had a terrible reputation, were fearsome, powerful and destructive, Jonah refused the assignment, boarded a ship heading the opposite direction and then followed the story of the storm threatening to capsize the ship, being swallowed by the whale, Jonah praying to God to save his life, and God letting the whale spitting Jonah on the shores of Nineveh. Jonah warning the people and the people right from their King right down to the commoners, all fasting, praying and repenting, and God relenting and postponing the destruction. Which was what led to Jonah making the statement in my opening “gambit”.
However, the destruction of Nineveh though did not happen in the lifetime of Jonah, Nineveh was destroyed 75-150 years later in the time of Prophet Nahum.
In Nahum 1 v 3:
The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.
The destruction that Jonah was waiting for, that was stayed by the Lord, did not happen in the lifetime of Jonah, but it happened 75-150 years later in the time of Nahum.
Let’s check out Habakkuk, he complained about injustice, about how those who did not follow the precepts of the Lord did not seem to suffer any consequences, and how the evil ones seem to lord it over the chosen ones of God. God replied Habakkuk and told him that he should wait for the manifestation of the prophetic, for retribution, recompense and reward. In Habakkuk chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 God replies:
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it[c] will certainly come
and will not delay.
4 “See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness[d]
Though the appointed time did not manifest in the lifetime of Habakkuk.
We can take countless prophets of God throughout the scriptures, some of the things they prophesied happened in their lifetime, some of the things they prophesied did not happen in their lifetime.
I once heard an interview of an apologetic in which he made a statement that made a tremendous impact on me, and I quote: “there is a difference in knowing what you belief and knowing that you know what you belief”.
When a prophet or a man of God or a person of faith says something under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he knows that he knows what and Who, he beliefs. Even when what he says did not manifest in his lifetime, according to God’s words in Habakkuk, the revelation awaits the appointed time.
Now we seem to have arrive at the issue of faith, well I am talking about faith with works or actions. God showed Jonah that though Jonah was waiting for the destruction of Nineveh and that did not happen in Jonah’s lifetime, and God explained to Jonah why He, God relented, because the Ninevans repented for the time being. And God demonstrated once again with action to Jonah why he should continue to have faith in Him, by making a plant grow overnight to provide shade for Jonah from the heat of the day that Jonah though would kill him, and the following night, God made a worm eat up the plant. When you know that you know what and Who you believe.
You must have faith in God, before He reveals some of His secrets to you, or show you glimpses of things that have not yet happened. Obedience to God, following His precepts are key components or requirements for those that are privileged to be members of that club. Mind you, tiny glimpses or seeing into the future is a gift that He, God showers on both the wicked as well as the righteous.
The Lord is a compassionate God.
