Gracious and Compassionate God

Have you ever tried to run away from God? You know the Lord has a message or a mission for you, but for your own reasons you have not embraced that call, either conveniently ignoring Him or defiantly rebelling.

Have you ever wished for God to just punish the wicked and be done with them? Maybe you have felt that certain groups of people such as child abusers, drug addicts, liars, murderers or jerks at work simply do not deserve God's compassion, and there's no way in the world you would ever give them the chance to receive salvation.

That's why so many people throughout the ages have identified so closely with Jonah.

You know the story. God called His prophet, Jonah, to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Why? Because the wickedness and violence of that city was flying up in God’s face. A holy, righteous God displayed the greatness of His patience toward this city by sending His messenger to give them a chance to repent. He could have simply wiped them out like an exterminator getting rid of nasty bugs you don’t want crawling around your house. That’s what Jonah thought He should do. And He would have been justified in doing it.

God was justified in sending the flood in the days of Noah. The Bible records for us that “the Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain” (Gen. 6:6) because He saw how great man’s wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil all the time. The world was filled with corruption and violence, and it broke God’s heart with great anguish.

God was justified in raining down burning sulfur to destroy the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. You can read the graphic details of their wickedness in Genesis 19 if you’d like.

The truth is that God’s judgment is always right. He is just in all His ways. And on the day when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power” (2 Thess. 1:8-9).

But with an unfathomable compassion for mankind, God, who is also gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, gives men everywhere a chance to turn from their wicked ways and trust in Him for salvation from hell. That’s why He sent Jonah to the Ninevites. That’s why He called Noah to be a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5) in his generation. That’s why He spared Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible says of the Lord, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Jonah did not understand God’s compassion. He couldn’t comprehend why God would give such wicked and sinful people a chance to receive His favor. “They don’t deserve Your mercy!” Jonah protested. “Look at how evil they are! Don’t you see how defiant and rebellious and violent these people are? They deserve Your wrath, not compassion!” In putting it bluntly, Jonah's attitude was: "They can just go to hell."

And so Jonah tried to escape this call by taking a cruise to the other side of the sea. But God would not be denied. On this cruise Jonah found himself immersed in a life lesson concerning the preaching of God’s Word. Jonah learned first hand the awesome power and sovereignty of God as the wind and waves rocked the ship. He discovered the challenge to obey as God kept him alive inside the belly of a great fish. And when God gave him a second chance Jonah set his sights on carrying out his mission, reluctantly though it was.

The day of the Lord’s judgment will come. But He is giving you this moment the chance to receive His salvation. That’s why God displayed His compassion in the ultimate measure by sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross in the place of every sinner. There He took the full weight of God’s wrath for us. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

The truth is, none of us deserve His compassion any more than the Ninevites. But, oh, the mercy and grace of Christ Jesus! When warned, the Ninevites believed God. They turned from their wicked ways and God had compassion on them and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened.

What about you? Confess your sin before the Lord today. Turn away from wickedness and trust in Jesus Christ for your forgiveness. Believe that He died on the cross for your sins and that He rose from the grave. Come in faith to Jesus, for "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:13). You will experience that truly our God is a gracious and compassionate God!