All We Need is a Sick Whale and a Humbled Prophet

“For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” (Jon 3:6 AV)

 

This verse really struck me this morning.  An event I have read many times.  A book from which I preached.  This is not new.  A very familiar passage.  What struck me was comparing Nineveh with modern America and asking if the LORD could send revival to as wicked a city as Nineveh, could He do the same for our beloved nation?  If the leader of a nation would humble himself or herself,  there is no telling what God can do.  All it took was for this king to hear of the tale of Jonah, hear of his preaching, and allow the Holy Spirit to convict his soul.  There is no indication Jonah ever went to see the king.  In fact, the suggestion is the king heard it all but never set eyes on the prophet.  It is astounding that the single most effective revival ever to be recorded in the word of God came to the enemies of God and His people by the mouth of a disgruntled yet humbled prophet.

Nineveh was a very wicked nation that made victims of the Jewish people.  Those tribes settled on the east of the Jordan river were constantly raided.  They lost their families, their crops, and even their lives.  These roaming bands of thieves were a constant threat.  This led to serious feelings towards the Ninevites and explains why the prophet tried to run.  This explains why he pouted when they repented.  His understandable prejudice would not permit him to feel any compassion for his enemies.  We know the account.  Jonah fled from the call of God and boarded a ship headed for Tarsus.  He was trying to go as far from the call of God in the exact opposite direction as he could.  God wanted him east, and Jonah chose west.  As Jonah fell asleep on the ship, God sent a gale-force wind.  This storm threw the boat around like a sock in a drier.  The sailors feared for their lives so they cried out to their gods.  All to no avail.  Jonah was awakened and rebuked for not crying to his God.  At his command, the sailors threw Jonah overboard as a means to rescue the ship.  Jonah thought he had nobly escaped the call of God on his life.  After all, he was willing to give his life to the sailors.  Just not the Ninevites.  What Jonah didn’t know was the LORD was not going to let him off the hook so easily.  God prepared a whale.  That whale swallowed the prophet whole.  It was during that three-day journey the prophet came to himself and surrendered to the call of God.  Three days later, this whale swam up the Euphrates and vomited the prophet onto the shore.  Jonah preached.  The people repented.  God did a work in the worst possible place at an extremely pivotal time.  If God could do it for Nineveh, could He not do it for us?

What would it take?  It would take a sick whale, a humbled prophet, and a leader who has a shred of a conscience.  What should the people of God pray for?  A sick whale, a humbled prophet, and a leader who feels something.  Anything.  One might think that in today’s world this is impossible.  If a whale vomited out a man on the shores of a river somewhere, it might make the National Enquirer, but it wouldn’t make national news.  No one would be impressed.  Perhaps.  But that has to be something.  There has to be something that would garner the attention of the whole nation for a mere three days.  That is all that Jonah preached.  God did a work and in three days, the entire city repented.  What do we need?  A sick whale and a humbled prophet.  That would be it.  How difficult would that be?  A sick whale and a humbled prophet.  That may sound a bit fantastical.  That may seem a bit impossible.  That may seem like this is surely beyond the ability of God.  If God can send revival to a large city with a population of 600,000 by the mouth of one man, who’s to say God cannot do it again?  All we need to pray for is a sick whale and a humbled prophet.