Jonah's Heart or God's Heart?

"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God revoked His sentence of evil that He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it for He was comforted and eased concerning them. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, I pray You, O Lord, is not this just what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and when sinners turn to meet You and meet Your conditions You revoke the sentence of evil against them." (Jonah 3:10-4:2)

I suppose one of the hardest tasks in the body of Christ is to have the gift of a prophet. One becomes privy to the heart of God and relays pleasure or displeasure accordingly so that the body may align itself with God. But the difficulty is this: a prophet is proven true by the accuracy of the outcome in comparison to his words. So what is one to do? On one hand you do not wish to fall in the category of a false prophet and so there is a part of you that wishes to see destruction come to pass. But another part of you pulls the other direction and you almost wish that somehow for some reason you got the message wrong. I believe the gift of a prophet is very real and very active in the present day Church but it serves a very vital function. The gift of prophecy relays to the body the heart of God and how we should pray in order that we may be repentant and see the mercy and compassion of God.

The important thing to remember if you are a prophet is that your words are meant to change people and to bring them into alignment with God. The main goal should always be to bring people to God. This last week I have been moved to read the book of Isaiah. Amidst all the destruction and devastation in Isaiah there is constant mention of a highway that leads the way out of the calamity. A highway that leads to peace and redemption. A prophet is the pavement of this highway. A prophet prepares the way for others to come to the peace which Christ offers.

I would say that a prophet has the best and the worst job of all gifts. They are allowed to see the heart of God, but that vision can bring great sorrow with it. I call on the prophets of our nation to speak the heart of God so that we may know how to pray; that we may repent and see the mercy and compassion of God. But I also hold prophets accountable in that you cannot sit back and wait for your words to come true. You must keep hold of the heart of God and pray that what you see is not what will be.

Now you may be thinking... Debbie... what on earth are you talking about? I am talking about the increasing spirit of defeatism that is attacking the Church right now; the idea that we will suffer some great calamity because we cannot see God's plans. I earnestly believe that prophets who speak doom are called to do so for one reason - so that they will not come to pass. Jonah predicted doom for Ninevah but it did not come to pass because the people heard his words and changed their hearts. That should always be our hope - that the severity of our words would resonate loud enough that the people of God would rise up and say, "Mercy, Heavenly Father!" So do not be afraid to voice the heart of God but always hold hope that forecasts of catastrophe will not come to pass. Do not sit back and await the surmounting storm. Have hope in the fact that God can and has revoked His sentences of evil when He is comforted by our works.