The NIV 365 Day Devotional

Love That Relents

We see the character of God so clearly in the book of Jonah, where God pardons the evil Ninevites when they repent after Jonah’s preaching. But it makes Jonah angry. He practically spits the words, “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (verse 2).

Jonah’s heart was bent on justice, and he admired that particular quality of God. What he didn’t appreciate was God’s love that relents when someone admits their sin and turns away from it.

And yet, that’s a God-quality that we need the most. A God who opens his arms to those who admit their need for him. A God who hears the cries of the broken. A God who rescues the sinner from great peril (just as he rescued Jonah from the great fish). We often love God’s grace for ourselves, but we want justice when we’re wronged by others.

But God’s love is not prejudicial. All people have the opportunity to come to him. His love is wider than the boundaries of nations, higher than the heavens, and deeper than the oceans. When Jesus stretched his arms wide on the cross, he took our punishment so we wouldn’t have to. He relented. And now he relentlessly pursues us.

Taken from the NIV Radiant Virtues Bible.