Disasters Are Rifle: How to Gain God’s Mercy
In the time of frequent disasters, many people want to obtain God’s mercy and tolerance, escaping from disasters. But how can we gain God’s mercy then? Let us look for the path from the story of Ninevites.
God says, “After hearing God’s declaration, the king of Nineveh and his subjects performed a series of actions. What was the nature of these actions and of their behavior? In other words, what was the essence of their conduct in its entirety? Why did they do what they did? In God’s eyes they had sincerely repented, not only because they had made earnest entreaties to God and confessed their sins before Him, but also because they had abandoned their wicked conduct. They acted in this way because after hearing God’s words, they were incredibly frightened and believed that He would do as He said. By fasting, wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes, they wished to express their willingness to reform their ways and refrain from wickedness, and they prayed to Jehovah God to restrain His anger, entreating Him to withdraw His decision and the catastrophe bearing down upon them. If we examine all of their behavior, we can see that they already understood that their previous wicked acts were detestable to Jehovah God, and we can see too that they understood the reason why He would soon destroy them. This is why they all wished to make a full repentance, to turn away from their evil ways and abandon the violence in their hands. In other words, once they became aware of Jehovah God’s declaration, each and every one of them felt fear in their hearts; they discontinued their wicked conduct and no longer committed those acts that were so detestable to Jehovah God. Additionally, they entreated Jehovah God to forgive their past sins and to not treat them according to their past actions. They were willing to never again engage in wickedness and to act according to Jehovah God’s instructions, if only it were possible to never again infuriate Jehovah God. Their repentance was sincere and thorough. It came from deep within their hearts and was unfeigned and intransient.”
“ When God observed all these facts, little by little His anger faded away. Regardless of how great His anger had previously been, His heart was touched when He saw the sincere repentance deep within these people’s hearts, and so He could not bear to bring catastrophe upon them, and He ceased to be angry at them. Instead, He continued to extend His mercy and tolerance toward them and continued to guide and provide for them.”
Seen from God’s words, the Ninevites offended God’s disposition due to their wickedness and decadence; when God’s warning came upon them, they didn’t defy but completely accepted and submitted; the king of the Nineveh led his people to fast, put on sackcloth, forsake the violence in their hands, and confess and repent to God together. God observed their true repentance, so He changed His heart and showed them mercy, deciding not to destroy them. From this, we can see that God’s righteous disposition is vivid. When people commit sins to resist and oppose God, they will receive God’s wrath and punishment. But when people truly repent to God and turn away from the evil way, they will gain God’s mercy and tolerance. Nowadays, disasters are growing ever worse. If we want to obtain God’s protection, the most urgent thing to do is truly repent to God.
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