God is indeed grieved by those who sin and grieves over the lost.
Yet as I mentioned earlier YHWH chooses and His Will will be done.
He delayed their judgment as He did Israel and Judah. The judgment of Nineveh, a nation God did not have a covenant with, met their demise as we see in the book of Nahum.
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
In whirlwind and storm is His way,
And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.(Nahum 1:3)
And YHWH in His mercy and longsuffering spared them. The message from Jonah was the direct Words of God and as such the city populace responded to God acting through His words. You would have a point if Nineveh repented without a prophet to warn them.
Again, they repented after hearing the word of God. Same with us, we repent based on hearing the Gospel and God gives us a spirit of repentance.
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)
Making them repent as making a computer run a program is much different than a repentance according to the will of God. See above from 2 Corinthians 7:10
Not according to the apostle Paul:
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
Nor Jesus:
John 16: NASB
7“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
Yes Acts 17:30. That does not negate Jesus saying the Holy Spirit convicts of sin nor Paul telling us God leads us to repentance.
Well it's not silly as demonstrated in my previous post God chooses. God is Sovereign in His Gift of Salvation. Ask me to explain it, I can't, but that is what we have revealed...God is Sovereign and He chooses. Who am I as the formed clay to contend with the Potter.
Ephesians 1: NASB
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Notice what I bolded
and underlined above. That says it all....It's for His Glory.