II Kings 19:36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh,
Don’t you wish sometimes that those people who attack you would just go home and live their lives?
Jonah took his message to Nineveh in around 760 BC, in the ten preceding years they had experienced two plagues and a solar eclipse and were most likely very receptive to Jonah’s message of repentance for that season.
Here we are in Nineveh some eighty years later and it seems like Jonah had never visited. In fact, if we jump on board with Alexander the Great 300 years later when he travels the region of Nineveh, the records say that not one stone was left visible at that time.
We don’t know the full story of those people who try to harm us, neither their history nor their future. We do know our story and our future. And we know we are safe with the God in whom there is no shadow of turning, (James 1:17) and under whose shadow we find safety (Psalms 17:8; 23:4; 36:7; 57;1; 63:7 and 91:1).
Sennacherib tried for all he had to cast his shadow over Jerusalem, but his shadow pales into insignificance when we think about the shadow of the most high.
Nineveh had cast a shadow over the known world at that time, they had been offered an opportunity to repent and turn to God which it seems they took hold of for a season. When they went back to their old ways, eventually there was not even a shadow left of Nineveh.
Whose shadow bothers you today? Whose shadow provides you with protection today?
Principle of Change 75 – even God’s shadow has power beyond anything we can imagine.
Strength – Significance – my heart is to champion others and leave a worthwhile legacy.