Thu Nov 6

Listen up, little ones

Listen for the words go, going, gone, and went.

Reading

Jonah 1 The Reluctant Evangelist

Keys for kids

• God told Jonah to go and preach to Nineveh.
• Instead, Jonah fled the other direction.
• God used Jonah’s disobedience to cause some to fear God.

Questions

1. What do we know about Jonah?
2. What did Jonah do when God said, “Go preach”?
3. Who is Jonah’s God (even if he doesn’t obey Him)?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors.)

The Bible Project’s introduction to the book of Jonah labels it this way, The subversive story of a rebellious prophet who hates God for loving His enemies. While that might be a bit extreme, Jonah is certainly an unusual book about an unusual prophet of God. Mackrell describes the prophet Jonah this way, More than anything he loved his own nation and people. The trouble was that it excluded everyone else. This fierce and narrow nationalism is the key to his stubborn disobedience.

Most of us know about Jonah’s disobedience. God says, “Go preach.” Jonah goes—the other way! As if he could hide from God! I wonder what ways you and I try to hide from God. And most of us know why Jonah ran the other way. But we have to wait until chapter four to find that out.

As God is quite able to do—and often does—He stopped Jonah as he tried to run away. He stopped him by “throwing a great wind” at the sea such that a terrifying storm rose up. The experienced sailors did all they could—even calling out to their false gods for help. Finally, they woke Jonah who was asleep in the boat. “Call on your God,” they said. And Jonah told them who he was, who his God was, and what to do to stop the storm—throw him in the sea.

When the sailors reluctantly did that, the storm stopped. Then Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. What?!? Yes. Unbelievable as it might seem, the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah.

Swedish Method questions

Praise

Psalm 107d, 88a

Prayer

1. Pray that you will obey the Lord—even when you don’t want to.
2. Give thanks for something from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
3. Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.