In the Bible, the book of Jonah tells us the story of God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh. But Jonah refused and disobeyed what God told Him to do. He got on a boat and traveled in the opposite direction. Remember how we call sin anything opposite from God? Yeah…..Jonah was literally going in the opposite direction from God. Anyway, God’s plans always win so God sent a huge storm to surround the boat Jonah was on. One thing led to another and Jonah ends up in the sea being swallowed in the belly of a big fish.

Jonah chapter 2:1 literally says, “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.” You should go read his prayer from inside the belly of the fish. I mean, what would you pray in a situation like that?

God hears Jonah’s prayer. God makes the fish spit Jonah out on land. God repeats the plan to Jonah about going to Nineveh and this time…..this time Jonah obeys the Lord. He goes to tell the people in Nineveh about God. Jonah 3:3a says, “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.”

This story teaches us that it’s important to obey the Lord. And the only way that we will get good at obeying the Lord is to know Him by reading the Bible AND to practice obeying people in your life like your parents and teachers. Obey is REALLY hard sometimes, right?! But the story of Jonah reminds us about how serious God is about obedience. And as we say in our house often, “slow obedience is no obedience.”

Jonah eventually obeyed, but he was certainly slow about it.

Now, guess what? There’s actually more to the story of Jonah that lots of people don’t often read. Jonah chapter 4 tells us more about how Jonah felt after he went to Nineveh. There’s also something that happened with a vine and a worm. You should read it. It’s like a hidden treasure that most people don’t remember about Jonah.

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. Oh, and remember, don’t overthink it!

1.     Why did Jonah disobey?

2.     Did Jonah get his way in the end?

3.     What is one thing that you can learn from Jonah’s story and remember in your life today? 

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.” Jonah 3:3a 

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