08/27/20 RE-MINDERS FROM JONAH — In my course “Digging Gems in the MINER Prophets” (deliberately misspelled!), each week I presented most of the “RE-“ words in these short books, e.g. rebuild, repair, return, restore, repent, etc. In future posts I’ll probably present these “RE-minders” from the other 11 Minor prophets. But below are those in Jonah:

In Jonah 3:9-10 (CSB) the king of Nineveh says, “’Who knows? God may TURN and RELENT; he may TURN from his burning anger so that we will not perish.’ 10 God saw their actions — that they had TURNED from their evil ways — so God RELENTED from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.”

Also Jonah 4:2, “He prayed to the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a Gracious And Compassionate God, Slow To Anger, Abounding In Faithful Love, and one who RELENTS from sending disaster.’”

The OT Hebrew word rendered “turn” in the verses above is often translated “REPENT.” And one of the explanations folks give for (OT) repentance is “turning away from evil and toward God.” The NT Greek word for repentance means to change one’s mind, which is the sense of word “RELENT” above.

Praise the Lord! We most certainly DESERVE any disasters God sends our way. But if and when we sincerely TURN and REPENT, He will RELENT, forgive us and even, perhaps, remove His chastening hand.