When we hear the news about the economy, the increased crime, and about America as a nation walking away from God, we get discouraged. We question if our prayers are worth it because we don’t see immediate results. But today I want to encourage you to not give up on America! The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:18 to “Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.” America is a nation founded by Christians and there are still millions of believers in this country.
Watching your beloved country go down the tube is very disheartening. But the Lord revealed something very important to me this week. Our prayers do matter. Let me share the story of Jonah. The Book of Jonah is the shortest book in the Bible, but the story is very powerful.
Jonah received a message from the Lord to “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh! Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are” (Jonah 1:2). But Jonah didn’t want to go because he feared the people in that evil city. So, he went the opposite way, bought a ticket, and got on a boat going to Tarshish. While on the boat, God sent a terrible storm, and the sailors were terrified. They prayed to their gods to calm the storm, but they didn’t answer. They soon found out that Jonah had disobeyed his God and that’s why the storm happened. Jonah asked them to throw him overboard and the storm would be gone.
So, they did. As soon as they threw Jonah into the sea, the storm calmed down. The sailors were amazed at God’s power and vowed to serve Him going forward. As Jonah sank into the bottom of the sea, God sent a huge fish that swallowed Jonah and kept him inside for three days and three nights. During this time Jonah repented and God made the fish to spit him out.
Then the Lord asked Jonah a second time to go to Nineveh with His message. This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh. Once he arrived and shared God’s message that said: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they decided to go without food and wear sackcloth to show their sorrow” (Jonah 3:3-5).
And when the king heard the message, he issued a decree to the city: “No one, not even the animals, may eat or drink anything at all. Everyone is required to wear sackcloth and pray earnestly to God. Everyone must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will have pity on us and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us” (Jonah 3: 7-9).
As everyone repented and prayed, a miracle happened. “When God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he had mercy on them and didn’t carry out the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10). Interestingly, when Jonah saw God’s mercy on this evil city, he was upset because he wanted them to be destroyed. They deserved it. But God challenged Jonah and told him he could not question God’s mercy. “Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” (Jonah 4:11).
What a beautiful story of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and second chances. I learned five lessons from this story:
1) Disobedience: We each have a special calling and when we disobey God’s command or run away from Him, we pay the consequences of our disobedience. Storms come to our life because of our own fault. We bring it to ourselves and, unfortunately, those around us also suffer the consequences.
2) Repentance: The moment we repent from our hearts, God forgives us and gives a second chance to obey His command. Jonah didn’t get out of his troubles and walked away. He had to fulfil his unique mission. We must repent and stop sinning.
3) Forgiveness: No matter how evil people and an entire country are, if everyone repents and seeks God’s forgiveness with humility, God will forgive us. He will even stop His judgment from destroying our entire country. This revelation gave me hope. Let’s not give up on America. Let’s repent as a nation from having walked away from God. We took Him out of our schools and allowed evil to destroy our families. Along with repentance comes fervent prayer for our nation and for one another. Prayer for God to forgive us and to spare us from destruction. Sometimes destruction is not only physical but spiritual, which is worse because it has eternal consequences.
4) Love: God cares. He cares for each person in the entire world. He does not want anyone to perish, which is precisely why He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for all our sins. But we must repent and accept the free gift of salvation.
5) Witness: When we obey God, others will see His power and will believe too. We are to be examples of God’s mercy and love for humanity.
I hope the story of Jonah will inspire and encourage you to pray for America and for all its citizens.