God on Both Sides of the Issue

In the Old Testament there are two entire books based on two very different prophets of God who lived just a few generations apart. Both spoke for God and faithfully carried His message however one called for repentance and the other for God's judgment. 

Jonah wanted justice for the people of Nineveh hoping that God would give them retribution for their sins as they deserved. Instead, He gave them mercy and a chance to repent- and they accepted His grace. 

Jonah was later mad at God for mishandling the Assyrian situation and for failing to judge "those people" for their clear violation of God's Word after they relented. That was a kind of mercy Jonah just couldn't accept. 

Fast forward 150 years and enter the prophet Nahum who decreed the pending destruction of Nineveh- the very same message of justice to the very same people that Jonah wanted to preach 150 years earlier. Of course God again later fulfilled His promise and destroyed Nineveh as He brought about His judgment on that city. 

So who was right?

The answer is yes. Both prophets spoke God's Words on both sides of the issue. At the end of the day, God was neither a Jonahan nor a Nahuman- He was God. He's a God of mercy and of justice for everyone. They were both preaching complimentary truths about the same God in different contexts. 

The danger for us is in applying aspects of God's Word to further our personal beliefs about our particular context. In doing so we sometimes emphasize the parts we like and minimize the parts we don't. 

It's easy to believe "if God is for us..." (Romans 8:31), but we often forget He is also for our "enemies" and "those people on the other/wrong side of the issue". 

When we presume that God always agrees with our ideology, politics, or personal preferences we can easily fall into self deception. Just like the Israelites and the disciples themselves, we always miss God when we make Him into our own image. 

The same God that calls our for justice for the poor and the oppressed also offers mercy to the oppressor. 

In fact, we may even be quite orthodox in our theology but still be short sighted in our representation of Him. What if God is actually cheering for the other team? Then what?

We can always bet that God is bigger and our understanding of the issues are limited at best. His ways and His understanding are always higher than ours. It's not our job to push the outcome of our personal agenda when God will ultimately have His way in history (after all it's His Story). All He asks of us is to love Him (and others) and trust Him with the outcome. 

@Josh1eight

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