God-Appointed Place for Revival

Of all places an Israelite like Jonah would not have expected a revival, Nineveh was it. There was a no-holds-barred wickedness to this people. Jonah still wrestled with why God would bring revival to such a wicked place, not realizing that it was just such a wicked place that needed repentance and revival the most! Jonah 3:10 records that when God saw they turned from their evil ways, He relented from the disaster He had said He would bring upon them. They had dispensed evil, and God dispensed mercy. In fact, it is God’s mercy that allows a sinful people to see their sin. Without God’s intervening mercy and grace, sinful eyes remain blind to sin.

It is the places that are the most overwhelmed with sin, and the personal and societal ills that spring from sin, that are the ripest for revival. The key is to pray for God’s mercy to open blind eyes, and for God’s preacher and preaching to clearly illuminate the way to the cross.

Excerpted from The Runaway Prophet, by David Jeremiah.