Prayer Changes things
Jonah 3:4-10 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 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.6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 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, 8 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. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
In the Christian world, prayer is a part of who we are. We pray in the morning, thanking God for another day and asking Him to help with provision and direction. We thank Him before our meals. And then at night we thank Him for our day.
Jonah was in a bind. He knew if he proclaimed God’s Word to these terrible people that they would repent, God would relent, and the Ninevites would be saved. So the next time someone says. “Why pray? God doesn’t change” remind them of this.
During Lent our prayers become even more focused. We choose something to give up for 40 days, and then as we think of our sacrifice we turn to prayer. It is a time of concentrated, and indeed consecrated communication with our Creator.
May we meet God early while He may be found, pausing to hear His voice in the stillness.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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