In chapter 3 of Jonah we find Jonah leaving the great fish and going to Nineveh. He walked through Nineveh crying out “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The impact was amazing. Jonah 3:5 – “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.” The basic meaning of the Hebrew word for believe is certainty. I think it is important that its doesn’t say “They believed in the message of God” but, “They believed in God.” These people had many gods and they believed that their gods were greater than other gods. When the presence of God swept through the people of Nineveh they became certain of God. They were confronted with His holiness, His power, His purity. This caused them to recognize their sins against this almighty God. They fasted, put aside physical needs to take care of spiritual needs. They put on sack cloth and sat in ashes, humbled themselves before the great God. They turned away, repented, from their wicked way. That’s what happens when you have complete certainty of a holy, powerful, pure God.

All spiritual awakenings begin here. People have an overwhelming sense of the certainty of God. They are overwhelmed with their sin and fall before a powerful and gracious God Who forgives them. Their repentance is not for a week or a month or a year, but for the rest of their lives. This changes cultures, societies, nations. It has changed our world.

Is your belief in God still life changing. Do you still fall before the great God? Do you give up food, sin, self to come before Him in prayer? It is easy to live a relaxed Christian life. We haven’t been set aside to live easy lives. Real repentance comes with a cost. The people of Nineveh paid that price. Have you?