Eventually, Jonah prayed to God from the fish's belly and the fish vomited Jonah unto the dry land (Jonah 2:10). Upon his deliverance from the fish's belly, he followed God's initial instruction and went to preach in Nineveh. When he did, the people got converted, but Jonah was offended. He prayed to the Lord and said, "...O Lord, is not this just what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and \[when sinners turn to You and meet Your conditions\] You revoke the \[sentence of\] evil against them" (Jonah 4:2 AMP).

 

God, however, chided Jonah: "... should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand..." (Jonah 4:11). He felt they were ignorant; therefore, He had to be merciful to them. It's the same scenario today; there're many ignorant people all around the world, and the Lord expects us to reach them with the Gospel. Forget the fact that they may be wicked; God loves them, and wants to show them mercy.

 

Many are in the valley of decision, missing the way, walking in darkness, not knowing the truth. But we're the custodians of the truth. We must therefore keep praying and travailing for them to come to the knowledge of the truth, even as we proclaim the truth.