Grant Fishbook, Lead Teaching Pastor
A summary of the book of Jonah:
Chapter 1 – Running from God
Chapter 2 – Running to God
Chapter 3 – Running with God
Chapter 4 – Run-in with God
Jonah 4
1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord…
4 But the Lord replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
Jonah puts himself in a .
5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.
6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.
7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 Then the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
Do you have a right to be angry about ?
9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
God loves the people .
Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh?
Small Group Questions
- What makes you angry?
- Read Jonah 4 out loud. What resonates with you most: the grace of God for the city of Nineveh or the injustice Jonah struggles with? How do you resolve the other side of the equation?
- What do you do when you are struggling with God? Shut down? Press in? How would you counsel someone else who is struggling with God?
- What do you do with the statement, “God loves the people you don’t like”? How does it change the way you view difficult people?
- What have learned from the life of Jonah in this series?
- How can we pray for you right now and throughout the week?