Nineveh Within

To the uttermost…
As I was turning the pages of my study Bible my attention was brought to a map diagramming Jonah’s “adventures.” My first impression was “Wow, I had no idea Nineveh was so far away from where Jonah lived.” It must have not only been a shock to Jonah to be told to go to his enemies, but to have to travel so far to reach them. Nineveh was 300 miles away, give or take a little, and Jonah was being told to not only take an approximately two week journey, but to warn people he hated and feared that God was about to punish them. These people weren’t even his in-laws; they were cut-throat ENEMIES... Jonah wanted God to judge them (Jonah 3:10 - 4:2).
Jonah was facing a diametric challenge within. One, he has to travel 300 miles into Assyria across the desert, which carries a degree of danger itself. Second, he totally despises these people and welcomes God judgment upon them. Third, he is terribly afraid of these people because the Assyrians were notorious for their heinous acts. Bluntly, Jonah did not want to go.
Today there are many modern day Jonahs. Today Jesus commands us to go! For some that “go” means going unto the uttermost parts of the world. Yet, for others, the majority of us, the “uttermost” is the inward depths of one’s own soul. Sometimes the deepest, darkest, most dangerous mission is to travel within to own our fears, hatreds, unforgivingness, etc.
Going to the “uttermost” may mean finding it within yourself to be the first one to go and reconcile a misunderstanding with a neighbor. The” uttermost” to others may be discovering deep within that you’ve been harboring bitterness and resentment against a friend or family member that has hurt you and now you need to go forgive the ones that have hurt you and make amends. We must examine ourselves honestly (2 Cor 13:5) and regardless of the extremes, we must take every measure to insure that we are walking in the faith.
God is telling us that we need to go to “Nineveh”, that far and distance scary place within the depths of our soul, and tell ourselves that we need to forgive someone. We must remind ourselves of Jesus’ very own words in Matthew 6:15 that unless we forgive others neither will God forgive us.
I want to comfort you with this final word. At the end of all his experiences, Jonah discovered the meaning of God’s grace and mercy for himself; so regardless of the outcome you experience after approaching someone, whether positive or negative, your obedience to Jesus’ command to forgive from your heart (Matt 18:35) will move you into a place of blessing and you will personally experience God’s grace and mercy for you.