Abounding in Steadfast Love

Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Jonah 3:10-4:1-11 KJV

10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did [it] not. 

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, [was] not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou [art] a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. 3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live. 4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? 5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made [it] to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, [It is] better for me to die than to live. 9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, [even] unto death. 10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and [also] much cattle?

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did the Lord God do after the people of Ninevah repented? (3:10)
2) How did Jonah respond? (4:1-3)
3) What did the Lord ask Jonah? (4:4)
4) What did Jonah do next? (4:5)
5) What did the Lord do for Jonah and how did Jonah respond? (4:6)
6) What did the Lord do the next morning how did it affect Jonah? (4:7-8)
7) What did the Lord say to Jonah about the plant and how did Jonah respond? (4:9)
8) How did the Lord explain His pity on the people of Ninevah to Jonah? (4:10-11)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
9) Have you ever failed to show mercy, pity or compassion for a group of people, or an individual, because you believed they deserved the Lord's judgment?

LIFE LESSONS
10) The Lord God demonstrates mercy to all people by giving them the opportunity to repent of their sins against Him.
11) The Lord God expects His children to be loving, compassionate, and merciful toward the lost souls He died to save.