Do you know that the goodness of God is
urging you to repentance? God wants you to be saved.
He is not willing that you should perish. So He is
leading, pleading and urging you to repent of your
sins. You should not treat this matter lightly.

Firstly, God shows goodness to you in many
ways, and through these dealings of goodness He
leads you to repentance. Perhaps God has prospered
you in your life. Perhaps He has saved you from
certain dangers, like drowning or traffic accidents.
Perhaps you were very sick and God has healed you
wonderfully. Perhaps you were being tempted to
neglect the way to God, so He sent His messengers to
tell you how greatly you were in need of salvation.
They told you of God's wonderful love by which He
sent His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ to die
upon the cross, and shed His precious blood to atone
for your sins. They told you how the Lord Jesus
suffered and bore the p unishment, which should have
fallen upon you. Now if you repent of your sins and
accept Christ Jesus as your own personal Saviour you
will be forgiven and accepted by God at once. Your
name will be written in the Book of life and your place
will be reserved in the Kingdom of God. Through these
loving messages and in these loving ways God has
been calling you and urging you to repentance.

Some people refuse to see God's goodness and
kindness towards them. They say it is all their good
luck and good fortune. They assign everything to
chance, or to natural causes, or to natural evolution.
They harden their hearts and refuse to acknowledge
the goodness of God towards them.

Some people raise a great hue and cry a gainst
corruption in others, and try to hide the fact that they
are corrupt themselves. Dear friend, have you
repented or are you finding fault with others without
repenting yourself? Are you ignoring the goodness,
which God is showing towards you without realising
that God is using these loving ways to lead you to
repentance? "Therefore thou art inexcusable. O man,
whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou
judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou
that judgest doest the same things, But we are sure
that the judgement of God is according to truth against
them which commit such things. And thinkest thou
this, O man, that judgest them which do such things,
and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the
judgement of God? Or desplsest thou the riches of his
goodness and forbearance and long suffering; not
knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance?" (Romans 2:1-4).

It is reported that once a man tried to
assassinate Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, out of personal hatred for him, His attempt was
a failure, and he found himself in prison under
sentence of death. The date for his execution was
fixed, and was drawing near. In the meantime
President Abraham Lincoln decided to show him mercy,
and signed his pardon, the prison officers took the
news to the prisoner. To their great surprise the man
replied, "I don't believe it". Then higher officers came
and explained to him that the pardon was genuine. He
still replied with the same words. Finally the Governor
of the prison, the highest officer, went to him
personally, and yet the man stubbornly replied, "I
don't believe it, I don't believe it", the news was
conveyed to the President, and the reply came, "The
pardon is cancelled". On the appointed day the man
was executed. He had despised the, goodness of the
President. Will you despise the goodness of God Who is
willing to pardon you if you only repent and ask His
forgiveness?

Sometimes God sends us bitter experiences to
urge us to repent. Yet He would rather have us to
repent without them. "Be ye not as the horse, or as
the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth
must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come
near unto thee" (Psalm 32:9). When we neglect to turn
Hebron Messenger to God, bitter experiences like "the bit and the bridle" become necessary.

The children of Israel were so wayward that
God had to bring many afflictions upon them to make
them to repent. Then God sent the following message
to them through the prophet Amos. "And I also have
given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and
want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not
returned unto me, saith the Lord. And also I have
withholden the rain from you,...yet have ye not
returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have smitten you
with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your
vineyards and your fig trees and olive trees increased,
the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not
returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have sent among
you the pestilence...your young men have I slain with
the sword...yet have ye not returned unto me, saith
the Lord. I have overthrown some of you, as God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah...yet have ye not
returned unto me, saith the Lord" (Amos 4:6-11).
Perhaps you can remember how often God has
sent trials upon you in order to urge you to repent. I
have heard many giving testimony how they repented
in a time of sorrow or sickness or their affliction. But
as for you, your own conscience perhaps tells you that
inspite of all these afflictions still you have not
humbled yourself and still you have not turned to the
Lord in true repentance.

Thirdly, God weeps over you if you still refuse
to repent. I know many mothers have wept because of
an ungrateful and wayward son or daughter.
The prophet Jeremiah tells us of God's sorrow
over His unrepentant people. He describes it in a way
that we can understand. "Oh that my head were
waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might
weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my
people!" (Jer.9: 1). "Is it nothing to you, all ye that
pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like
unto my sorrow" (Lam.1: 12).

God's sorrow becomes very real to us in the
New Testament when we see the Lord Jesus weeping
over Jerusalem. "And when he was come near, he
beheld the city, and wept over it" (Luke 19:41). Your
heart should melt when you hear His lamentation over
Jerusalem, because it shows how the Lord Jesus
laments over you also. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are
sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"
(Matt.23: 37).

The curtain has been lifted, and God allows
you to see things that others have never seen, that the
loving God, your Creator and your Saviour, is weeping
over you because you have not yet repented.
Once a mother was praying with her son for
her son's conversion. The young man opened his eyes
and looked at his praying mother's face and he saw
tears in her eyes. He could not bear to see the sight
and closed his eyes again. After his mother passed
away to be with the Lord, one day her prayer was
answered. The young man was converted and became
a child of God. That young man's heart was touched
when he saw his mother weeping. Is your heart so
hard that it is not touched even when you see your
Saviour weeping over you?

Our loving God is urging you to repentance by
His dealings of goodness, by your afflictions, and by
allowing you to see Him weeping over you. Will you
not repent today and give your heart to Him?

THE RUNAWAY SERVANT OF GOD –2
BAKHT SINGH

Jonah humbled himself and told the shipmaster
that he was running away from God. Then he added,
"Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall
the sea be calm unto you". The men were afraid to do
as he suggested. They redoubled their efforts to save
the ship, all the more so because they were now
anxious to save Jonah as well. But the wind became
still more boisterous (Jonah 1:13). Finally, they cast
him into the sea. The sea ceased from raging, and
became calm. But what about Jonah? What happened
to him? Scripture says "...the Lord had prepared a
great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the
belly of the fish three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:
17). We see how God has power over all creation. He
can command, not only the sea and the waves but
also, all the creatures whether they are in the sea, or
on the land, or in the air; they all obey Him. The Lord
Jesus during His stay upon the earth commanded the
sea, and it became calm (Luke 8:24,25). He
commanded the fishes and they obeyed Him (Matt.17:
27; Luke 5:6).

God's love for Jonah was unchanged though he
had disobeyed Him. God wanted to bring Jonah under
His discipline, but He did not allow the whale to do him
any harm. God commanded the fish saying: "I am not
giving Jonah for you to eat. He is not for your
breakfast or lunch. I am using you to protect him from
being drowned, and to take him to the place where I
want him to be". Jonah was in the fish's belly for three
days and three nights. In some fare cases fishermen.
Who have been swallowed by whales were brought out
alive after some hours but their bodies were disfigured
and discoloured because of the action of the gastric
juices in the whale's stomach. Yet no harm came to
Jonah even after three days. Thus we find that God's
Word is true, "...he that toucheth you toucheth the
apple of his eye" (Zech.2:8).