Choose Mercy: A Call to Compassion in Our Cities

The story of Jonah is often relegated to children's Sunday school classes—the prophet, the whale, the dramatic rescue. But buried within those four brief chapters lies a challenging question that confronts every believer today: Will we choose mercy?

The Assignment We Didn't Choose

God doesn't ask permission when He assigns His people to specific places and purposes. The prophet Jonah discovered this truth when he received clear instructions: "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it."

Nineveh wasn't just any city. It was the capital of Assyria, a place steeped in wickedness and violence. For Jonah, it represented everything opposed to God's people. Yet God saw something worth saving—120,000 souls who needed to hear truth.

Today, we find ourselves in similar circumstances. We live in cities that often seem far from God. Our neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools can feel like modern-day Ninevehs—places where darkness seems to prevail. The question isn't whether these places need God's intervention. The question is whether we'll be the ones to bring it.

The Danger of Running from God's Presence

Jonah's response to his divine assignment is painfully familiar. He didn't just politely decline—he ran. He boarded a ship headed to Tarshish, 2,500 miles in the opposite direction, attempting to escape not just the assignment but God's very presence.

The Bible repeatedly emphasizes Jonah's descent: he went "down" to Joppa, "down" into the ship, and eventually "down" into the belly of the great fish. This downward trajectory illustrates a spiritual principle: disconnecting from God's presence always costs us something and always leads us lower than we intended to go.

When we resist God's call on our lives—whether to pray for our cities, reach out to difficult people, or step into uncomfortable ministry—we're choosing a downward path. We may think we're preserving our comfort or protecting ourselves, but we're actually delaying the very revival God wants to bring through our obedience.

The Power of One Obedient Voice

After his dramatic encounter with God's correction, Jonah finally arrived in Nineveh with a simple message: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

The response was nothing short of miraculous. The king heard the message and declared a citywide fast. Everyone—from the greatest to the least—turned from their evil ways. Even the animals were included in the fast! God saw their repentance and relented from the disaster He had planned.

One man. One simple message. One hundred twenty thousand people transformed.
This should ignite hope in every believer's heart. We often feel inadequate to the task of reaching our cities. We look at the overwhelming darkness and think, "What difference can I possibly make?" But God specializes in using ordinary obedience to create extraordinary results.

Your testimony matters. Your prayers matter. Your willingness to be mercy in your neighborhood, your workplace, your family—it all matters more than you know.

The Tragedy of Resentful Revival

Here's where Jonah's story takes a disturbing turn. After witnessing one of the greatest revivals in biblical history, Jonah became angry. The Bible says it "displeased Jonah exceedingly."

How could a preacher be upset about revival? How could someone resent 120,000 people finding redemption?

Jonah's complaint reveals his heart: "I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm." He was angry precisely because God showed mercy to people Jonah deemed unworthy.

Before we judge Jonah too harshly, we must examine our own hearts. Do we resent when God reaches certain people? Do we secretly believe some individuals or groups have gone too far for redemption? Do we struggle when revival doesn't look the way we expected or include the people we preferred?

Living as Mercy in Our Cities

Second Chronicles 7:14 offers a powerful promise: "If my people, which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from my wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land."

The responsibility for revival doesn't rest on the world changing first. It rests on God's people choosing to be conduits of His mercy and grace.

We are not called to condemn our cities but to intercede for them. John 3:17 reminds us that "God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." If Jesus came not to condemn but to save, who are we to approach our communities with anything less than compassion?

This is the age of mercy. Every person with breath in their lungs is a candidate for God's transforming power. No one has wandered too far. No situation is too broken. No city is beyond hope.

You Are the Mercy God Chose

Here's the revelation that should change everything: When God chose to show mercy to your city, He chose you.

You are not just flesh and bones walking through your neighborhood. You are walking, breathing mercy. You are God's answer to the prayers that have been prayed over your workplace, your school, your street.

God planted you exactly where you are for such a time as this. Your presence in that difficult workplace isn't random—you're mercy for those people. Your home in that struggling neighborhood isn't coincidence—you're mercy for that community.
The book of Jonah ends with God asking a piercing question: "Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city?"

Today, that question echoes through our own communities: Is your city not worth compassion? Are the lost souls in your neighborhood not worth your time, your prayers, your witness?

God has already answered that question by calling you. He chose mercy for your city when He transformed your life and positioned you where you are.

Now the question is: Will you choose mercy?

Will you choose mercy when someone at work irritates you? Will you choose mercy when you have the opportunity to share Jesus with a relative? Will you choose mercy when you pass by that difficult neighbor?

The culture may be broken. Sin may be rampant. But we can still choose mercy. We can still pray. We can still believe for revival. We can still be the compassionate presence of Jesus in a world desperate to experience His love.

Jonah preached a simple message, and a city was changed. You can share the name of Jesus, and there will be fruit from your labor. Choose mercy today.