Punishment and Forgiveness

I wrote a blog for tomorrow as well but I'm not quite sure I'll have time to post it so I'm putting it up now. This is the continuation of the last post and a display of something i read and learned in my youth group.

"to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of his sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace"
Luke 1:77-79

"The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."
Exodus 34:6-7

God is known to be a wonderful God, forgiving the sinners of the world so long as they come to Him in repentance. Now I want anybody who is reading this to pull out your Bible, dust it off and turn to Jonah and read it.
This displays God's forgiveness because He asked Jonah to leave to Nineva, who boarded a boat and caused tempests around him. The men aboard cast him over the side where Jonah was then swalloed by a fish for three days and three nights. I am not going to lie, this part is rather absurd, but it was a miracle and it is not the main point of the story that I wish to communicate.
Jonah did not want to go to Ninevah in the first place because he did not like those people. But when God rescued him from the fish, he did not refuse again. He went to Ninevah and said to them "Yet forty days, and Ninevah will be overthrown!" The people believed in God and repented for their sins as Jonah waited for their destruction.
You must remember, Jonah did not like these people, and pretty much wished them dead while he was waiting. But God saw that these people were changed and had repented from their evil ways. Jonah became angry at the forgiveness of his God. He left the city and created himself a shelter. When he fell asleep God created Jonah a plant that would shade him from the sun and Jonah was thankful. But the next morning God sent a worm to destroy the plant.
Jonah became angry again, where God basically said that Jonah did not spend any time laboring and helping the plant grow yet he was still upset about it, though it was not his own. He told Jonah it was His plant, and the people of Ninevah were His people and He had a right to destroy or not destroy whatever of His creations He chose.
God showed His forgiveness to these people even when Jonah could not. And that is the main point of the story.
Not only does God forgive, but us humans, who were created in the image of God, can too. When somebody does us wrong do not seek revenge. Seek the ability to forgive.