https://odb.org/2024/09/20/gods-justice-and-grace
Niniveh, a ruin located near the city of Mosul in present-day Iraq, has an interesting history as descrobed in the bible. In the book of Jonah, God asked Jonah to preach to them to warn them of the impending judgment if they do not repent. Instead, Jonah fled to the other direction as he saw their wickedness and thus, in a way, preferred that they meet their doom. But he was eaten by a big whale, and after 3 days and 3 nights in its belly, he was released, and he made his way to Niniveh to preach to the people of Niniveh. They repented, and God spared the city. About 100 years later, they fell back to their old ways and this time Nahum prophesied against them, and they were later destroyed by God.
You may read this in Nahum 1:1-8 NIV –
A prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
and vents his wrath against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up;
he makes all the rivers run dry.
Bashan and Carmel wither
and the blossoms of Lebanon fade.
5 The mountains quake before him
and the hills melt away.
The earth trembles at his presence,
the world and all who live in it.
6 Who can withstand his indignation?
Who can endure his fierce anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire;
the rocks are shattered before him.
7 The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
8 but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh;
he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.
The point I would like to make this morning is that the LORD is slow to anger, although His power is great. He was slow to deliver judgment on Niniveh and sent Jonah to give them a chance to repent. When they repented, He didn’t destroy them. He treats us and others in this world the same way. Chances to repent will be given before judgment is delivered.
We are to forgive when others do wrong to us. This is the basic tenet of our faith as God first forgave us, and if we do not forgive others, He will also not forgive us. But there is a teaching that advocates us to leave the judgment to God as vengence is His. It’s just that we have to remember that God is slow to anger and even slower to take revenge for us. His capacity to forgive is immense, even if evil is or may be perpetuated.
So perhaps the best way forward, though it may be very difficult, is to take the attitude and spirit of Jesus in Luke 23:34 – Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. In other words, if we are wronged, forgive them and ask God to forgive them instead of asking God to take revenge for us. That’s the Christ-like attitude to have despite our fleshy desire to see destruction by God of the people who had wronged or sinned against us. Remember, even though God is powerful, He is slow to anger.
Ronnie's Thoughts 