“So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the Word of the Lord.”
– Jonah 3:3
Now, this could have happened in Jonah 1:3, and this book would be completely different in the Bible. But after a journey to the sea and the belly of the fish, Jonah is delivered from the consequences of sin. And God says, “Now go to Nineveh. What I told you to do in the beginning.” In verse three says, “Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the Word of the Lord.” And when I read that verse, I just think I so want that to be the commentary of my life, don’t you? And just put your name in there. So Jonah arose, so David arose, and so just put your name in there, arose and went according to the Word of the Lord. Everything I do, everything you do, would be according to God’s Word.
Jonah 3:3 Teaches Us the Importance of Living According to God’s Word
I think about praying through this chapter specifically when I was making a significant decision in my life and just saying, “God, I just want to do whatever you want me to do. Help me to do whatever you want me to do.” And I think right now, today, I want the same. God. I want to do whatever you want me to do. What I want is to live today according to your Word. I want the commentary of my life, to hear you say God, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You did what I told you to do.”
Oh God, I pray for this in my life, and for this in each of our lives today. Help us to do according to your Word, to live in obedience to your Word, in your Spirit today. To live as Jesus would live in us, to think like you, Jesus, to desire what you desire, to speak in ways that glorify you and to walk according to your Word.
Jonah 3:3 Teaches Us to Repent of not Living According to God’s Word
To run from sin and temptation, to live in holiness and to proclaim the gospel, to share the good news of your grace, to do what you’ve told us to do, to make disciples of the nations. God, we pray that this would be the commentary of our lives. However you lead us, and God, we confess that we have not done this. We’ve not done according to your Word, we’ve not, as your church, made disciples among the nations. There’s 3 billion people who have little to no knowledge of the Gospel. God forgive us. We’ve not lived our lives according to your Word, your clear command to make disciples of the nations. So we pray that you would help us to change the way we live and pray and give and go.
Praying for the Kurdish People of Turkey
God, we pray today for the Kurds of Turkey, 6.3 million Kurdish people in Turkey. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to them. We pray for your anointing and your power, and your help and your strength. We need your boldness over brothers and sisters, the small number of them in the church across Turkey. Lord, we pray for their building up in every way, and we pray for the spread of the gospel through them for more laborers to come alongside them.
God, we pray for the Kurdish people of Turkey that they would hear your word just like Nineveh would hear your word in Jonah, chapter three, and they would receive your mercy. Just like Nineveh received your mercy. God may it be so among them, among the nations of the world, among people right around us, receiving your mercy. Because we, as your people are living, doing, acting, speaking, according to your Word. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to Jonah 3:3. Make this the commentary of our lives. We pray that we obeyed your Word. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
