When God changed His mind

 

I am sure the title raised your eyebrows a bit! Surely God decides matters and then keeps His word? We find these interesting verses in Amos 7:

Amos 7:1-3

The Sovereign LORD showed me a vision. I saw him preparing to send a vast swarm of locusts over the land. This was after the king’s share had been harvested from the fields and as the main crop was coming up. In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”  So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.

If you continue reading, you will find that it happens again, when God wanted to punish Israel with fire and in response to Amos’ plea relented and decided to revoke His sentence. One righteous man pleading for his nation has the power to stay God’s hand. However, when Israel still did not return to Him, He shut the door of mercy and did not spare them any longer and allowed them to be exiled from their land.

What would move God to have mercy and grace for us to such an extent that He does not judge us as a nation or a city with the punishment we so richly deserve?

We find the answer in Jonah, who had been sent by God to warn Nineveh of their impending judgment:

Jonah 3:10

When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

The whole city, (120 000 people!) fasted and repented of their evil ways and violence and then turned away from their evil doings. And herein lies the key:  repentance does not merely mean to say that you are sorry. Repentance means to make a U-turn concerning those wrong thoughts and behaviour and then move in the opposite direction, actively refraining from doing them again.

It would seem that our task here is twofold – as intercessors we need to stand in the gap for our nation and our cities, repenting on their behalf of the sins that are continually  being committed, pleading with God for an extension of His grace and mercy, begging Him to  delay His inevitable judgment.  But secondly, we need to send out as many workers in the field as possible to lead people to repentance and turning to God!

Points to ponder:  Think about your twofold role in saving your nation from the terrible wrath and judgement of God on their stubborn refusal to acknowledge Him – are you actively involved in both?

Song of Repentance