Jonah

Jonah 1:1–3:10

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called the Book of Jonah. Jonah loved God and wanted others to know God, too.

One day, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. If Nineveh was in front of him, what do you think Jonah did? Did he go God’s way? 


Nope! Jonah turned around and went the opposite way. Jonah went Jonah’s way, toward a town called Tarshish. Say, "Oh, Jonah, not that way!"


God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people there to go God’s way. But as you can see, Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. Jonah thought he had a better idea! He wanted to sail on a boat, far, far, away from Nineveh.


Can you tell Jonah what he should do? Should he go Jonah’s way or jump, jump, and go God’s way? Right! He should jump, jump, and go God’s way. Jonah didn’t go God’s way. Instead, he got into the boat to sail away, in the OPPOSITE direction of Nineveh. Jonah wanted to do things his way instead of God’s way.


While Jonah was in the boat, a BIG storm came up. With wind! 


Then it rained! It rained more and more, harder and harder.


Jonah knew God sent the storm for him, so in order to save the other people on the boat, he threw himself into the water. 


And the storm stopped.



Then God sent a giant FISH to swallow Jonah. So there Jonah was inside the belly of the big fish. Now, do you think Jonah should have gone God’s way?


Sometimes we think we have a better way, but God’s way is perfect. And we can always trust him! Jonah prayed and told God he was very sorry he didn’t go God’s way. Then he praised God and knew that God’s way is perfect. When Jonah finished praying, God made the giant fish spit Jonah out onto dry land.


Now, do you think Jonah decided to go God’s way after all of that? YES! Jonah went to Ninevah. 


And guess what? The people there decided to go God’s way! Because God’s way is perfect.






Bible Paraphrase: God’s way is perfect. —2 Samuel 22:31, NIrV

Text Truth: I can go God’s way even when it’s hard.



Family Devotional

“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
—Jonah 3:2

Our Bible story was about a man named Jonah who learned the hard way that we should go God’s way. We should always go God’s way because, just like our Bible verse says.

God’s way is perfect. —2 Samuel 22:31, NIrV

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people, "Go God’s way." With your family, make a list of places you can go and tell the people, "Go God’s way."

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, thank God for teaching you that God's way is perfect. Ask God to help you JUMP, JUMP, and go God's way. Say, "Help us go to (read the list your family made) and tell others to go Your way, too, because God’s way is perfect!" Thank God for His love and let God know that you love him. Close your prayer by saying, "In Jesus' name, amen."

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
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