Jonah: In You and Through You

Jonah 3:10 – 4:11

Scripture Summary:

Jonah and Nineveh are more alike than Jonah wants to admit. Jonah, in the belly of the fish, cries out for God's grace and mercy, and God delivers him. Nineveh cries the same cry to the same God and God responds in the same way. Grace. Jonah and Nineveh are in need of the same thing from the same God.

but Jonah can't accept that he is his enemy, and his enemy is him. So he finds himself in a place he is familiar with, feeling that same itch to get away–wanting to escape it all. Jonah wants to die, which is really just another form of escape. In the same way that Jonah ran to Tarshish, he is still running.

When we begin to take a long hard look inside ourselves for the root of our sin, we start to see things we may or may not like. Jonah is not running from God; he is running from himself. And no matter how far he runs, he will always have to keep running until he finally submits to the work that God wants to do in his own life.

Group Discussion Questions:

Are you surprised – like Jonah – that God did not destroy Ninevah?

How does remembering God's love and mercy help your relationship with God and others?

What things have you seen in others that made you angry only to later find those same things in yourself?

If you look at the root of your anger, what's the real source of it?

Where or to whom in your life have you been showing anger where instead you should be extending grace?

The story of Jonah is ultimately about God and what He is like. What His desires for the world are. It's a story that puts Jonah's desire alongside God's desire and build to a question: Will God's desire become Jonah's desire? Will God's hope for the world become Jonah's heart for the world?

Would you say that you want the same things God wants? Are His desires yours, too?

What calling has God placed on your life? Are you pursuing it?

What is one thing that you need to start letting God have control of?

What's one thing that God is concerned about that you have no concern for?

What are a couple of things you can do personally to align your dream for the world closer to God's dream for the world?

What are a couple of things your rGroup can do together to align your dreams for the world closer to God's dream for the world?