Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words go and flee.
Reading
Jonah 1:1-9—Trust, then Obey
Keys for kids
- If we trust God we should obey him.
- Jonah claimed to trust God but disobeyed him.
- You sometimes disobey God, too. But should not!
Questions
- What evidences can others see in your life that you trust Jesus?
- What things in your life hide that you trust Jesus?
- What helps has God given us to avoid disobedience?
Notes
(See below for all authors.)
If you have come to trust in the One greater than Jonah, how do you show it? The Bible speaks of many evidences—loving God, loving others (especially other Christians), bearing fruit, keeping God’s commandments. Jonah claimed to fear (or worship) the God of the heavens who made the sea and the dry land. How did he show it?
By running the other direction when God told him to go preach against Nineveh’s sin. Okay, so that actually didn’t show it. Instead it showed the opposite. As Mackrell puts it, he buys his one-way ticket and runs from the Lord—or at least tries to. You would have thought Jonah ought to have known that nobody can ever escape from God. Indeed he did know it. Not only would he have been familiar with Psalm 139, but telling the sailors about fearing the Lord, the God of heaven who has made the sea and the dry land in verse 9 shows that at one level he believed it. But sin warps the thinking. What he knew in his head was distorted by a mind set on disobedience.
Too often we are more like Jonah than we would like to admit. Our parents give us instructions and we don’t do as they say. God gives us clear commands in His Word, but we find reasons to do otherwise. These things ought not to be.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 119m, 88a
Prayer
- Ask for the Lord’s help to trust and obey Him.
- Pray for the reading and preaching of God’s word tomorrow.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.