The Nineveh Effect: How God Uses Unlikely Places to Shape Our Calling

Midweek Meditations: Jonah 3:1-10

In our previous Midweek Meditation, we journeyed with Jonah into the belly of the great fish—his rock-bottom moment where he finally turned to God in prayer. Though his prayer lacked confession and remained self-centred, God responded. The fish vomited Jonah onto dry land, giving the stubborn prophet another chance. We discovered that even our most imperfect prayers create enough of an opening for God to work with. Now, as Jonah heeds to the call to Nineveh, we see what happens when reluctant obedience meets God’s extravagant mercy.

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Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.

Jonah 3:1-3a

Searching for God’s Calling

The book of Jonah begins a second time—well, in a sense.

Chapter 1 started with Jonah’s calling. Here in Chapter 3, he is called again. Before we dig deeper, let’s confront something many of us struggle with:

The very concept of “calling.”

When Christians talk about calling, it can carry baggage. It can become a pressure-filled notion breeds confusion, worry, and fear. What if I miss the call? What if I do the wrong thing?

Perhaps you’ve felt similar things. If God is calling … many of us are still waiting for the phone to ring. The frustration and discouragement of lacking a clear sense of what God wants for you whilst God even seems silent on the matter. Perhaps you feel little sense of calling in the work you’re currently doing—it feels mundane and meaningless. You might think to yourself: If you could just know your calling, then you’d have more purpose and fulfillment.

The book of Jonah reminds us that our primary calling is always to God himself. He has called us to himself. This call starts with Jesus who says:

“Follow me.”

Walking in his direction leads to Christlikeness.

Our call is to follow Jesus and become like him.

Even when God calls us to a specific task or profession, it’s always an expression and extension of who God is. God calling Jonah to go to Nineveh is an expression of God’s passion for the nations, his passion for cities, his passion for the world to be restored to himself.

The Divine Do-Over: No Plan B or Z Required

Sometimes God’s calling is explicit. Sometimes, it isn’t. But when God seems silent on the matter of “What should I do with my life?” what if we don’t automatically interpret it as negative? It might be permission: God giving us freedom to decide. In this freedom, God might be asking a liberating question: “What do you want to do? Based on what you know of me, and what you know of yourself, what do you want to do in this world?”

No matter what we do, we do it in light of our primary calling to follow God into Christlikeness as we walk in his ways. Paul puts it better, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

God doesn’t want us to have a ceaseless existential crisis trying to discern our personal callings. They may take many different expressions throughout our lives. We may do something for a season, then move on to another thing. We may even get it wrong at times. Like Jonah, we may run from the calling God does have for us, but …

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.

The calling isn’t off the table even though Jonah ran from it—even though he attempted to head 2,500 miles in the opposite direction, even though his repentance remains partial-at-best.

More importantly, there isn’t a single word from God about everything that’s gone down. He doesn't heap shame upon Jonah for fleeing. He doesn’t recount all his mistakes. God simply offers the call—the same call—a second time.

God invites us to follow him, to do what he asks, again and again.

Here’s some relief: You don’t have to worry about missing your call or settling for plan B or C or D or Z.

Jonah is offered God’s “Plan A” a second time. Do you think Jonah’s flight took God by surprise? Of course not. Our confusion, our indecision, even our blatant running from God doesn’t thwart God’s plans. In fact, God can and does use these things to prime us for growth in our calling to him. Everything that Jonah has gone through has prepared him to walk toward God’s calling. This is not an affirmation of his (or our) disobedience, but rather the glory of how God can redeem.

God calls Jonah again.

But God doesn’t soften the call either.

It’s still just as challenging as the first time:

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.

Jonah 3:2

In this, we see that calling involves risk and dependency.

Nineveh is a risky place to go. The outcome isn’t certain. God doesn’t give Jonah the full picture. Jonah doesn’t even know what he will say to the people of Nineveh yet. Jonah gets one piece at a time.

Following God is an unfolding story. We don’t get all the details of how things will go. We simply get enough to be faithful in the present. You can’t know what it means to follow Jesus five years from now, a year from now, a month from now, even a week from now—let alone tomorrow. Indeed, Jesus himself said today has enough worries of it’s own, and his brother said it’s arrogant to boast about what we might accomplish tomorrow. God is free to ask of us what he wants. All we can do is be faithful to him today and respond to what we do know of his desires for us.

When Tiny Messages Move Mountains

To our surprise, Jonah concedes to the call. That’s not fair actually. Jonah finally obeys.

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.

Jonah 3:3

Jonah arrives to the great metropolis. Its sheer size is highlighted. The smallness of the prophet is contrasted with the city’s vastness.

For some people, it’s photos from the Hubble telescope that make them realize how small they are. For others, it’s standing in Times Square for the first time, looking up at the towering buildings and feeling tiny amid the crowds.

What is Jonah compared to Nineveh?

Nineveh was the zenith of cultural civilization in its day. It was also a brutal and violent city. What impact could little obscure Jonah possibly have?

Often—if not always—God calls us into situations and places beyond our own abilities so that we depend on him. Jonah lacked spiritual maturity and influence. But God called him to a place where he was weak, vulnerable, and exposed as needy—so that Jonah could know God’s strength and power.

Anything that happens in Nineveh isn’t going to be because of Jonah’s stature. He is small, the city is big, and God is bigger.

And just as Jonah pales in comparison to the city, his message is equally small—even paltry. It’s only five words in Hebrew:

And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Jonah 3:4b

In terms of prophetic messages in Scripture, this is exceptionally brief.

Jonah’s message isn’t much, and it’s not that impressive. Can you imagine being in Jonah’s shoes? Walking around a huge urban centre, proclaiming such a brief message? What difference could it possibly make? What could God possibly do with it?

There’s nothing to suggest that Jonah is truncating God’s message. This is just the message he received. It’s not eloquent or verbose. It’s brief, but it is loaded.

Forty is an important number in Scripture.

Eugene Peterson puts it this way:

Forty days is a period for testing the reality of one’s life—examining it for truth, for authenticity. If the forty does its proper work, life begins in a new way. If the forty is ignored, life is destroyed.

Think about Noah’s forty days in the ark.

Israel’s forty years in the wilderness.

Elijah’s forty days on the run.

Jesus’ forty days of temptation in the wilderness.

The forty days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension …

Nineveh has forty days.

The question is: What will the outcome be? Will the forty days lead to life beginning in a new way or to life being destroyed?

On the surface, it sounds as if Jonah is saying, “Destruction is coming your way, Nineveh!” But that’s not exactly what he says. He says, “Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

The word for “overthrown” is ambiguous. Its basic meaning is “to turn.” In some contexts, it can mean “to overturn,” as it does when describing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jonah’s preference for Nineveh). But the word can also mean "to turn around" or "transform" (God's preference for Nineveh). The word here is hardly accidental. In forty days, Nineveh has two options: they can be overturned by God or turned around by God.

When Nineveh Dropped to Its Knees

In Nineveh, the forty days does its proper work:

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Jonah 3:5-6

If we could sum up Nineveh’s response in one word, it would be:

Repentance.

And their repentance is thorough.

They believed God. From the greatest to the least, they turned. They put on sackcloth, the traditional garb of repentance. A decree is issued from the king. It is a city-wide turning. Even the animals participate!

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands”

Jonah 3:7-8

The king commands everyone to turn from their evil and from the violence in their hands. This is a shocking message—especially considering Nineveh’s reputation. One scholar described them as the “Nazi stormtroopers of the ancient world.” The king calls out their social and cultural corruption. Their violence needs to cease. It’s an offence to God. They’re at risk of perishing.

This is a disproportionate response to the short message of a foreign, unknown prophet. It reminds us that when God calls us—he is always ahead of us.

As God’s people go, as they follow his call, they find him already waiting to meet them. God calls Jonah to go. But God was already preparing Nineveh for this moment. Jonah can’t take any credit. Nineveh’s response is a work of God. It’s not Jonah’s job to save Nineveh—that’s God’s job. But Jonah had a part to play—he had to speak, proclaim, and live out his calling.

Wherever and however God calls us to participate in his work of renewal, we are only joining him in what God is already doing in every place. God is already at work—in our classrooms, offices, homes, public spaces, restaurants, government institutions. Whatever our work may be, wherever we may go, God is already there.

Like Jonah, it’s not our job to save our country, city, town, or neighbourhood. That is God’s job. But God does have a part for each of us to play. Our job isn’t to bring God to anyone but to be faithful to what God is already doing for them and what God is asking of us.

The Nineveh Mirror

God brought city-wide renewal to Nineveh. Imagine it! Picture if this happened today: people repenting in the streets, a decree from the mayor declaring collective repentance, cows moo-ing to the glory of God. But this moment is even more awe-inspiring when we consider the context. Jonah learns that the people and place God calls us to play an important part in our primary calling to God.

Think about it: What has been lacking in Jonah’s life?

Repentance.

Remember, his prayer in the belly of the whale lacked any signs of confession or remorse for running away from God. He simply wanted out of bad circumstances.

What does Nineveh model to Jonah?

Repentance.

Ninevah make explicit what is lacking in Jonah’s own relationship with God: he still needs to repent. He still needs to confess. Wicked Nineveh can see their own evil—but Jonah still can’t see his own evil.

In the bigger picture, this matters all the more.

What was lacking in Israel during this time?

Repentance.

The nation was spiritually bankrupt. Their king was corrupt. They focused on nationalism—but had no spiritual vibrancy. They needed to return to God in repentance too.

But this goes both ways.

What’s still lacking in Nineveh? If you compare Nineveh’s response to the sailors on the boat, they show repentance but there is no mention of God’s personal name. There is no mention of making commitments to follow God. They still need the full picture of who God is. They still need to know whom to believe in.

Jonah needs his calling to Nineveh for his calling to God: they model what he lacks. Israel needs Nineveh for their calling to God: they need spiritual renewal and repentance. But Nineveh needs Israel. They need Israel to return to their primary calling. Because if Israel as a nation returns to God, they’ll also return to their purpose: to be a light and blessing to all nations and to make God known.

Our place, wherever that may be, needs us. But we also need our place.

In retelling his story, Jonah see more clearly with hindsight. Now, Jonah pushes Israel to first return to their primary calling: they need to return to God. But if they’re truly spiritually renewed, their hearts will begin to beat for the nations around them, because God’s heart beats for the nations.

Jonah has learned that the people and place God calls us to play an important part in deepening our calling to God. And Jonah sees that his calling cannot be separated from a people and a place. Because God is a God of people and places.

Think about Jesus. He was called to proclaim the gospel, “Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand.” His call brought him to people and places. He went to people like Peter, John, Matthew, Bartimaeus, Zacchaeus, Mary, Martha, and Jairus. He went to places like Galilee, Samaria, Caesarea, Jericho, and Jerusalem.

Jonah’s calling as a prophet started with Hebrews in Israel. It moved to Assyrians in Nineveh.

You’ll have your people and place too. Your people might be your coworkers, your place might be your office. Your people might be students, your place might be a school. Your people might be the sick, your place might be a hospital. Your people might be your family, your place might be your home.

The common thread is the way we all follow Jesus into the places and among the people in our lives. Your primary calling to follow Jesus isn’t ever put on pause. That calling goes with you into every place and to every person in your life.

Double Reflection: How Places Challenge and Complete Us

The shortcomings of our own places can reflect our own spiritual blind spots. As I’ve said, Nineveh’s capacity for repentance exposed Jonah’s reluctance to truly turn to God— just as the spiritual climate of our own place might reveal our hidden apathy or resistance.

While we might focus on the spiritual “deadness” of a place, we should also recognize its virtues. Many places demonstrate commitment to justice and compassion that can challenge our own priorities. Do we share the same passion for addressing homelessness, inequality, or environmental stewardship? Our calling to the gospel inherently includes a calling to seek justice—that is, to do what is right.

The shocking mercy God shows to Nineveh—a city known for its brutality—creates the central crisis of Jonah’s story. When God relents from the disaster he had threatened, we’re confronted with the radical extent of divine compassion.

This should challenge us to ask: Will we participate in God’s mercy? Will we exist not just for ourselves but for the people and places God has positioned us within?

Following the One Who Went Before Us

Our primary calling remains to follow Jesus—to hear his words “Follow me” and respond. This calling will inevitably lead us into broken, complex places where both challenge and beauty await. The question becomes not whether our places need transformation, but how we participate in God’s already-present work of renewal.

We can’t do it by our own strength.

Thankfully, Jesus himself was utterly faithful to his calling. He went to a place for a people—Golgotha for sinners. There he reconciled our profound brokenness with God’s immeasurable love.

In Christ, our small acts of faithfulness, like Jonah’s brief message, may seem insignificant against the scale of our challenges. Yet they are joined into the God who can “overturn” evil with love and accomplish far more than we can imagine.