A Nation in Mourning
It is with sorrow in my heart that I write this today. Yesterday, our nation witnessed two deeply disturbing stories in the news. First, someone murdered a young Ukrainian refugee named Iryna Zarutska on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina. The camera captured the attack, which was pure evil and hatred. Even more horrifying, no one intervened. Bystanders walked around her, letting her bleed out.(1)
While still reeling from that, I also learned that someone assassinated Charlie Kirk, one of the most influential voices in American politics. He was the same age as my son. Like my son, he had a young family with two children. He spent his time engaging with young adults on college campuses, listening to their concerns. For this, someone in Utah gunned him down.(2)
Our Desire for Judgment
I can understand why Jonah wanted to run (Jonah 1:3). God told him to prophesy to Nineveh—the capital of Assyria, a nation known for its brutality. Jonah knew God was compassionate (Jonah 4:2), and if the Ninevites repented, He would relent. Jonah wanted them destroyed. They deserved it. But don’t we all?

God has given me the opportunity through my books and daily blog posts to reach people across the world. However, seeing how callous and cold people have become and how little value they place on human life, I want to shout, “God, please smite them!”
Sin Is Sin
To God, all sin is sin. Murder is as damning as harboring contempt in our hearts (Matthew 5:21–22). God still created these individuals—whose behavior seems subhuman. He desires that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). When we truly grasp the eternal horrors of hell, we should not wish it on anyone—not the murderers, not the Nazis, not Genghis Khan, not even the angry woman who flipped you off over a parking spot.

Sin is sin. All sinners—including me and you—deserve hell (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). But Jesus didn’t die for “some” sinners. He died for all (Romans 5:8). There are no “minor” sins in God’s eyes.
Lip Service vs. True Repentance
Jonah was furious that God relented (Jonah 4:1), overlooking the fact that the Ninevites repented (Jonah 3:5–10). Like us, he misunderstood repentance. It’s not just feeling sorry—it’s forsaking sin entirely.

Many of us claim repentance but offer only lip service. We sit under the vine God provides (Jonah 4:6), grateful for comfort, yet still in anguish because we haven’t walked away from our sin. We try to tame it, leash it, feed it. But true repentance means putting sin to death (Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20).

If we can’t wish for the redemption of those who committed these murders—if we can’t pray that they find Jesus—then we do not differ from Jonah. Also, it should not surprise us when a worm eats our vine (Jonah 4:7), because we are not worthy of mercy.
When Your Knees Go Weak
When something so horrific happens that it makes your knees weak, that’s the time to kneel and pray. Pray for the families. Pray for the society that has reached this point. Only God can bring us back (2 Chronicles 7:14).

You may think it would be better if God just raptured us out of here. But that would mean millions—perhaps billions—of souls losing their chance at salvation. Who knows how many generations God still plans to bring forth before the end?

What we’re feeling is what Jonah felt—wanting the 120,000 Ninevites to perish (Jonah 4:11). But God’s heart is for the lost.
Don’t Let Hatred Take Root
Please don’t let hatred and anger take a seat in your heart. It’s a cancer that will destroy you more than the people you aim it at (Ephesians 4:31–32). Ask God to help you understand His plan. Ask Him to give you His heart for the broken, the violent, the lost.
Tomorrow, we will read Micah.
Footnotes

Will Potter and Mary O’Connor, “Dark ‘Race’ Element to Ukrainian Refugee’s Death… as Horrific Way She Died Revealed by FBI,” Daily Mail, September 9, 2025, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15081607.

Meredith Deliso, “Charlie Kirk Fatally Shot at Utah University in ‘Political Assassination,’” ABC News, September 10, 2025, https://abcnews.go.com/US/charlie-kirk-shot-event-utah-university-jd-vance/story?id=125451514