Sheep Wearing A Sackcloth Suit!

     Ever come across something that is so out of the ordinary that it demands your attention?  What if you came across a sheep wearing a suit of sackcloth?  Well, you might think that you are watching a cartoon episode to see an animal wearing clothes.  What if everywhere you look every beast was wearing burlap?  Sounds like a strange dream doesn't it?
     Well, where we pick up the story of Jonah describes this exact scene.  After spending 3 days in the belly of a great fish and being vomited back upon dry ground, Jonah decides to obey God.  He goes to the great city of Nineveh and begins to shout, "Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed."
     My first question is "Could Jonah possible have preached a more pathetic message then this."  He doesn't even try to preach to them.  The Bible doesn't record that he even tried to tell them about God.  Obviously his heart is not in this mission at all.  He sounds like a crazy man on the side of the road holding a sign saying: "The end of the world is near."
     Using this approach, you expect the people to totally ignore him but instead the Bible says "The people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow."  Even the king joins the people by dressing in burlap and sitting on a heap of ashes.  But that isn't the most extraordinary part of this story.
     The king makes this proclamation: "No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks may eat or drink anything at all.  People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God.  They must turn from their evil ways . . ."  Now that is the kind of leadership that we need today!
     I am amazed at the level of repentance you see in this passage.  Not only does the entire city repent of their sins, but they declare an extended fast from both food and water.  They also dress in burlap and sit in ashes, but they are so serious about this that they make their animals fast and dress in burlap as well.
     How difficult would it be for a shepherd to dress his flock in sackcloth?  How much work would it be to a farmer to clothe his entire herd of cattle in burlap?  It sounds absurd doesn't it, but that is how serious these people were about repentance and following God's words.
     The principle that I find in this Scripture, is that many times people who do not know God are better at doing what he says than those of us who claim to follow him.  I have seen over many years of ministry that the most effective people at bringing others to church with them are not church people, but non-Christians or new Christians.
     I love being around new Christians, because they are so serious about learning God's word and doing what it says.  It is refreshing and challenging to me.  I want to be that serious about learning and doing God's word.  Even if it means looking ridiculous to other people.  Let's be honest, you know the Ninevehites had to been ridiculed by other people for this ridiculous spectacle of all their beasts dressed in burlap.  What if we as Christians were this passionate about learning and doing God's word?  How different would our world look?
    Unlike Jonah, I refuse to become so accustomed to hearing God's word that I completely miss the point.  (We will talk about this more in my next blog.)