Session 6 Jonah 4:1-11

CONTEMPT (JONAH 4:1-4)

the difference between God’s response and Jonah’s response, and why Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh to begin with.

1 Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious.
2 He prayed to the LORD,
“Please, LORD, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country?
That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place.
I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God,
slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster.

3 And now, LORD, take my life from me,
for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 The LORD asked,
“Is it right for you to be angry?

EXAMINE:

In verse 4 God asked Jonah,
“Is it right for you to be angry?”

discuss why God asked Jonah this question.

DISCUSS:

Invite volunteers to point to evidence
of Jonah’s self-centeredness and prejudice.

Ask:

• How can self-centeredness and prejudices get in the way of a believer being used of God?
• How can prejudices lead to bitterness and anger toward God? (p. 55)

TRANSITION:

Job found a place east of Nineveh where he hoped to watch the city be destroyed.
God provided a plant for shade and then took it away.
Jonah once again angrily asked for God to take his life.